Home Health Care and Self-Care Help You Regain Your Strength and Mobility
Physical therapy helps you to heal after an injury or surgery while supporting mobility and flexibility. These exercises can even help prevent future injuries.
If your physician told you that you need physical therapy, it’s important that you receive it. If you are homebound as you recover, you might be able to receive physical therapy as part of your home health care services.
Your physical therapy sessions are important, and your home exercises are just as vital to ensure your success. Follow these tips to help yourself remember to keep up with your physical therapy at home.
Tip 1 – Keep Your Physical Therapy Tools Where You Can See Them
Did your home health care physical therapist give you resistance bands, stretching straps, or other physical therapy tools to use during your daily exercises? To help remind yourself to use them and keep up with your therapy, leave these tools where you can see them throughout the day.
The old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind,” can be true; do what you can to keep your tools in sight. If you need to put them away as you tidy, consider placing them in a basket or on a shelf near where you sit throughout the day so they are always within reach.
Tip 2 – Ask a Friend or Family Member to Keep You Accountable
When you chat with your trusted friends or family members who visit you during your recovery, tell them how your home health care nurse visits and physical therapy are progressing. You can let them know how often you should do your independent exercises and ask them to check in periodically to see if you’ve completed them.
The physical therapist your home health care agency sends to you will ask you how often you’re doing your exercises, too. Think of how satisfying it will be to tell them about your diligence.
Tip 3 – Schedule a Specific Time to Complete Your Exercises
Turn your home exercises into a habit by setting aside the same time or times each day to complete them. Choose a time of day you’ll remember because you already associate it with another task or activity. For example, you might want to do your home exercises:
- After breakfast. Your first meal of the day will help you feel more energetic.
- Before lunch. Your exercises can help you work up an appetite.
- When your favorite daily TV show airs. The characters and storyline can help make your exercises more fun.
- Immediately after your home health care provider leaves from their visit. You’ll already be in the right mindset.
- When your mail, Meals on Wheels, or other daily delivery arrives. Its arrival will trigger your memory, and soon your exercises will become like second nature.
- Right before bed. The end of the day is a great time to squeeze in your exercises.
Tip 4 – Post a Note on Your Bathroom Mirror
If you’re the kind of person who needs to write something down to remember it, or if regular reminders will help you, there’s a quick and easy solution. Use your favorite sticky note brand or notepad to jot down a reminder to perform your daily exercises.
Place the note somewhere you’ll see it regularly, such as on your bathroom mirror. Don’t hang it on your refrigerator if you already keep other notes, grandkids’ artwork, or photos there; your reminder note may blend in too much.
Tip 5 – Write About Your Home Health Care Visits and Physical Therapy In Your Journal
If you’re the kind of person who enjoys keeping a diary or a log of what you do throughout the day, why not include observations about visits with your home health care providers and physical therapists?
The simple act of writing down what you did that day could help remind you to do your exercises. You could even check off a box each day when you complete them, so you can track your progress.
Tip 6 – Set an Alarm
To help remember to do your physical therapy at-home exercises, you might choose to set an alarm on your smartphone or on your alarm clock. When the alarm goes off, you’ll know it’s time to start your exercises as explained by your physical therapist. Just don’t forget to reset your alarm for the next day!
Phoenix Coordinates All Your Home Health Care Needs
To learn more about the home health care services available to you in Kansas and Missouri, including physical and occupational therapy, contact Phoenix Home Care & Hospice.
