What is
Home Exercise Program
You will work closely with your doctor to complete a treatment plan. At some point, the doctor will transition you into doing back pain exercises by developing a home exercise program for you.
Depending on the severity of the injury and extent of damage to your tissues, this may start very soon or occur later in the treatment program. It will not be started until the doctor feels that it is safe for you to do some unsupervised exercise. Back pain exercises that will increase your flexibility, strength and balance are a natural progression to giving you an independent life.
Strength and flexibility gains made during organized physical activity may be quickly lost if activity is not maintained.
What Does Home Exercise Involve?
The basics of a home exercise program are stretching and strengthening:
- For patients with back pain or neck pain, the primary target area is the trunk of the body including muscles in the back, abdomen and shoulder regions.
- Back pain exercises such as walking, swimming or working out in a pool can be beneficial, as can working with handheld weights, bands, balls and steps.
- Working out in a gym is also good.
Exercise is not only good for overall general health, but maintaining strength and flexibility may help prevent injury and future bouts of back pain or neck pain.
As with any exercise program, compliance is key — it is easy to learn the exercises and hard to keep doing them.
