Most physical therapists give their patients home exercise programs. Predictably, most patients do not perform the home exercise programs.
I believe that their are two barriers to overcome for greater compliance:
- Too many exercises given (a topic for later discussion)
- Not impressing the importance of the program strongly enough for the patient (today’s topic)
In an earlier post, I talked about my time pie chart paradigm. Read the short post, but in a nutshell it talks about the extreme minimal amount of time that a healthcare professional spends with a patient. Please bear with me as I weave that concept into the title and topic of this article.
Last month, while leading a free walking program I conduct at a local retirement community, I asked a simple question to the group: “Do you take your prescribed medications as prescribed on the label?” Not surprisingly, the answer from everyone in the group was “of course” or “yes”. I then pulled out a simple calendar with the words Walking Prescription on it. Each participant received one as I explained that we all hear and know that walking is good for us, but we don’t necessarily do it. I asked everyone in the group to take one extra walk per day as a prescription not a recommendation for the next month until we meet again.
Today, one of my regular participants (87 year old female), brought her calendar to this month’s walking group. The attached photo shows that calendar. I was stunned!
She uses a waist mounted pedometer to track her activity, and although the steps/miles seem a little off (something I would NEVER share with her), the point is she did it! I totaled the numbers for her and she was further blown away by the numbers she amassed. More importantly, she stated to the entire group how good she felt physically and mentally from the activity.
Her smile and sense of accomplishment will stay with me forever.
To wrap up, I believe that we need to impress upon and teach our patients/clients their role in their recovery and wellness. The time they spend with their provider is impossibly small and their dedication to the cause is paramount. Changing our verbiage to prescribing exercise versus just given some quickly produced handouts we both know will never see the light of day can bring about the results they deserve and the results we want to see.
