Is Your Rehab Hard Enough?

Rehab has a knack for under-dosing, under-loading, and under-performing their patients. This article explores the idea of rehab difficulty and hopefully sheds some light on the process.

The Goal

We first need to define the goal. What do you want to return to? Hitting dingers? Running your first 5k? Lifting your grandchild pain free? Regardless of your injury, we need to define what we want to get back to — that sets the stage for everything we do.

The Injury

We need to reframe how we view injuries. You got injured because you were exposed to something you were not prepared for. You did too much, too soon, after doing too little for too long. Your injury tells us we have a weak link — and that weak link got exposed.

The Demands

In order to get back to our goal, we must meet or exceed the demands of said goal. Think of it this way: if your goal is the intensity of Rock and Roll music, your rehab is often the intensity of Smooth Jazz. We need to expose our patients to Rock and Roll if they are going to get back to it.

Tips to Increase Intensity

• ✓Isometric holds — holding a position (wall sit) till failure
• ✓Add load — simply adding weight is great
• ✓Add range of motion — going deeper or further on an exercise
• ✓Add speed — speeding up a movement adds intensity

Don't let rehab be easy. To overcome an injury we need to expose the injured area to greater intensities. If you are not being pushed, find a new PT!