For most of us, we know what we need to do.
To lose weight, burn more calories than you eat. To save money, spend less money than you make. To run your first marathon, jog progressively longer distances over time.
We know what to do from a 50,000-foot view. We may even know what to do at a 25k, 10k, or 5k foot view. But the hard part is applying that knowledge consistently over time at ground elevation. Doing what we know needs to be done in the 3 feet around us.
Physical therapy requires a lot of personal responsibility and accountability. Typically, we see people feel better in 2-3 visits. They are doing the prescribed daily exercises because they are driven by pain or discomfort to make changes in their daily habits necessary to succeed.
But we also see clients drop off after that. Because they feel better, they stop doing their exercises consistently. The pain resides and feels manageable and stops driving them to change their movement habits or behaviors.
By visit 5 or 6, they aren’t doing their prescribed daily exercises at all and become at risk of suffering a setback. When they suffer a setback at this point, they get frustrated and ask why they are hurting again.
The short answer is a lack of personal responsibility and accountability. We tell our clients when they start how important it is to do their daily exercises at the reps prescribed and to expect setbacks along the way. It is completely normal and we expect it — you should too.
Visits 8+ are often used to overcome a setback and give you the tools to manage the issue when you experience the next one. We focus on strengthening muscles to reduce those setbacks and prevent your pain from happening as often. We’re trying to teach you not to fear the movement that causes you pain and rebuild your confidence in your body’s ability to move.
Managing symptoms, educating, and accountability are three of the biggest things hiring a physical therapist can do to help you achieve your movement goals. We help set expectations in addition to prescribing the right exercises to help you move the way you want. We’ll also hold you accountable to putting in the work needed to recover and prevent injury.
We’ll do everything we can to put you in a position to succeed in your movement journey. Ultimately, it falls on you to take responsibility for your movement — and we believe you can do it.
