Custom Therapeutic Exercises

What Are Therapeutic Exercises

Therapeutic exercises are a combination of movements, stretches, or posture designed to restore pain-free movement for our patients. These programs are always customized for each individual, however, they typically include the three following categories of movement: 

• Balance, Coordination, and Mobility Exercises to move the body efficiently and gracefully as a unified whole

• Flexibility Exercises including prescribed stationary and moving stretches

• Strength and Endurance-building Exercises such as weightlifting or walking

Maximizing fitness and reducing symptoms can be achieved by the exercises in these categories. A strong, flexible body that can move with good coordination and balance is the goal we have for our patients here at Health From Within.

Balancing work, family, and other demands is something our team of chiropractors knows about. The interventions that we prescribe should make the best use of our patients’ effort and time. This is why we carefully choose exercises that match our patients’ busy lifestyles and needs. 

Therapeutic Exercise Benefits

Mental, physical, and social health benefits come from movement. The most important ones will: 

• Boost mood

• Increase energy

• Encourage restful sleep

• Control weight

• Improve sex life

• Build social connections

• Reduce the risk for falls, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, depression, and many other health conditions

Chiropractic insight combined with exercise optimizes each of these benefits by targeting neurological and spinal health. The brain and body can work together when they are in excellent condition to effectively and efficiently bring good health changes.

When patients first come to visit Health From Within, they are amazed at some of the questions we ask. We spend time asking about your personal relationships but not for the purpose of drumming up more business for our practice. This aspect of our consultation is about gaining insight into our patients' social support systems and connections. Having a great support system of friends can really help our patients stick to their custom therapeutic exercise program and experience the benefits that movement can make in their lives. 

Although each of our examinations and assessments begins with a detailed interview, it doesn’t end there. We perform a thorough physical assessment as well as a detailed medical history. This allows us to uncover any conditions that could limit our patients’ ability to move as we design our custom therapeutic exercise plan. When we take this approach it minimizes the risk of injury as our patients get stronger and improve their overall health. 

We also perform functional movement tests as another essential component of the chiropractic evaluation. Patients that visit our office won’t just sit on an exam table, they will also walk, reach and perform a variety of movements. This allows us to evaluate their functional abilities as they move including their coordination, evenness of movement, and range of motion. 

These functional movement tests will help us understand how our patients perform the basic movements needed for everyday tasks. We are then able to get a good idea of their daily performance and can create a program that can help increase functional fitness so that these common tasks are manageable. Plus, patients can begin to reap the many benefits of exercise as quickly as possible.

These exercise plans help with improving functional abilities. Younger patients typically have no problem with carrying groceries from their car or performing household maintenance tasks so they wonder what this would mean for them. That simply means we want more than the minimum for our patients. 

Any person can improve no matter what level of functional fitness they have. Our patients with higher abilities of fitness will receive goals and exercises that will challenge them. In addition, equally challenging goals will be given to patients with health issues that interfere with movement. However, they will have different activities with modifications so that they are guarded against any injuries they are more likely to sustain. 

We will then analyze the results for patterns of the full battery of functional fitness tests. This will help us establish a patient’s weaknesses and strengths so that we can design a customized therapeutic exercise plan for them by matching exercises that get results with areas that need improvement. We here at Health From Within always research and ensure that the exercise or movement we offer our patients will safely deliver benefits. 

As doctors, one factor we always take into account is patient safety, as our first mission is to do no harm, and that extends to movement programs that we recommend. We never assume that a patient can go without guidance or that we don’t need to design their fitness program with safety in mind, no matter what their fitness level is. 

Knowing which activities and movements to include is equally as important as knowing which ones to avoid. One example, we see many patients that have rheumatoid arthritis which is an autoimmune condition with flaring episodes of symptoms where some movements can be extremely painful. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis usually have two exercise programs including one for non-flare days with maximum intensity for their level of fitness. Then, the other is for flare days which focuses on nourishing and gentle movement to support the rebalancing of the immune system. 

Once we have created a list of exclusions, we then start building a list of exercises that help with coordination training, flexibility, and a balanced program of strength. We use our personal knowledge of the neurological system to create movements that maximize brain, nerve, and spine health making our chiropractic skills indispensable. Creating stable, ordered control over everything that happens in the body is accomplished by bringing the body’s master communication system to peak performance.

If patients don’t perform the exercises consistently then they aren’t any good. We seek patient input because they are the ones that need to do them every day. We really appreciate it when they tell us they won’t do a particular exercise when asked if they want to do the activities we prescribe. This helps us accommodate our patient’s preferences because there are many variations for most movements we prescribe. 

Juggling multiple roles is one of many issues our patients here at Health From Within have. With busy work, family, and school schedules, some may have difficulty finding the time to complete a custom exercise plan every day. That’s not a problem as we are happy to accommodate the schedule in 10 or even 5-minute bursts so our patients can fit chiropractic fitness into their everyday lives. 

One of the highlights of our practice is witnessing a patient reap the benefits of our chiropractic custom therapeutic exercise plan. You can give us a call here at Health From Within if you’d like to harness the power of chiropractic medicine to maximize the rewards of exercise. We would be happy to schedule a consultation or answer your questions.