Is Exercise Rehab Right For You?
Forward Head Posture
When you have forward head posture, you are likely still going about your day like you normally would. You may notice that your neck and shoulder muscles are tight and your neck may make noises sometimes. It might make creaking sounds when you shoulder check or turn your head.
Then suddenly, as you look down one day to check your phone you end up with excruciating pain in your neck. Or perhaps you were involved in a fairly minor fender bender but now you have minor whiplash which is taking much longer than you expected to get better.
Road To Recovery
How Exercise Rehab Fits Into Your Physio And Chiro Treatment
Treatment
Your chiropractor and physiotherapist will find the source of your problem. This could be tendinitis, forward head posture, whiplash injuries or sciatica. They will provide their expert treatment to address the source.
Rehab
There may be other areas of your body that are causing the injured site to be more vulnerable to injuries. Your exercise rehab program will begin by retraining your postural muscles in the affected areas. This can help re-establish coordination with the rest of your body.
Benefits Of Exercise Rehab
- Empowers you to regain control of your body and posture
- Exercise rehab acts as a complement to your treatment sessions with your physio or chiro
- Includes both stretching and strengthening at the same time, leaving you feeling taller and
more toned - Prevents future injuries and shortens the length of recovery for future rehab
- Strengthens your body from an inside out approach resulting in longer lasting results
Things You May Notice With Your Exercise Rehab Program
- Easier to stand up straighter
- Feel better than even before your injury or accident
- Feeling taller and lighter
- Increased strength, able to sit for longer periods
- Less neck pain from working on your upper back and chest
- More flexibility in your spine
- Slouch less
Who Can Benefit From An Exercise Rehab Program
In short, anyone can benefit from this program. With our modern life of busy-ness, we often forget to pay attention to our body. Over time, this can lead to poor habits being formed. Before we know it, our heads are positioned more forward than is ideal.
Patients that are going through their program are usually because:
- Are dealing with a work-related accident
- Difficulty with developmental issues
- Have an overuse injury
- Have arthritis
- They have injured themselves in sports
- Want to focus on prevention
- Were involved in a motor vehicle accidents
Your Rehab Team
Physiotherapy assistant, PTA
Your physiotherapy assistant is a certified clinical pilates or GYROTONIC® instructor with additional training in clinical rehabilitation. They have extensive training in finding postural problems and developing better movement strategies.
They work with you one on one for up to 55 minutes each session. Your sessions are done in is a rehab setting and all sessions are supervised by your physiotherapist.
GYROTONIC® and GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM® are registered trademarks of Gyrotonic Sales Corp and are used with their permission
Program length
The length of your program will depend on your goals. Most patients have noticed a change at the end of their first session. However, to obtain longer lasting benefits, 12-16 sessions done 1-2 times per week is a typical course of the program.
Homework
As your movements improve, they will integrate more complex and dynamic patterns into your home program. At the end of your program, you will have a set of home exercises that you can continue to practice and learn to integrate into your daily routines.
Starting Your Exercise Rehab Program
If you do not have an ICBC or WSBC claim, you can let your chiropractor or physiotherapist know your interest in an exercise rehab program. They can then assess you to see if you are ready for the program and start the process for you.
ICBC Rehab
If you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident and have an ICBC claim, your may benefit from exercise rehab.
You can let your physiotherapist or chiropractor know that you are interested in this program. In addition, if your chiro or physio feel you are ready to begin rehab, they will let you know. They can then request for approval from ICBC. Once approved, you may start this program immediately.
Get Started With Your Exercise Rehab Program
To learn more about if exercise rehab is right for you, schedule a time to visit your Burnaby physiotherapist at Cedar. They can help answer your questions and let you know if you are ready for an exercise rehab program
FAQ
Q: What does exercise rehab do?
A: Exercise rehab complements your current physiotherapy and chiropractic care. One of the goals is to improve the strength and flexibility of your many postural muscles. This can help you stand taller, move faster and feel better.
Q: How often should I do my rehab exercises?
A: Generally, stretching exercises can be done daily. You should have at least 1 days rest in between strength training your specific body part.
Q: Can I do this program if I am a patient at another clinic?
A: Yes, you certainly can. However as this is a physiotherapy supervised program, you must first schedule an assessment with your physiotherapist at Cedar who can then begin the process for you. You will then re-assessed by your physiotherapist at Cedar at regular intervals to see how you are doing.
