Phase 3: Home Exercise Program

Phase 3- Home Exercise Program

Often this phase involves very little patient-therapist contact and patients are often left to follow the prescribed exercise program on their own.  It’s different for conditions such as CVA, MI, or brain or spinal cord injury where rehabilitation is much more long term and the outcome expectations are constantly changing.  And in the case of an orthopedic injury, limitations in visits affect the amount of time the physical therapist can spend with a patient doing therapeutic exercise.

Insurance company reimbursement policies have created a situation where patients in phase 3 of rehabilitation will typically receive a list of exercises with instructions for frequency and progression after a quick lesson from the physical therapist and an expectation that they will complete this part of their rehabilitation on their own.  Some do well with this method while others either don’t keep up with their “homework” or don’t have enough experience with the exercises and do them incorrectly.

Both cases result in incomplete rehabilitation and possible complications including reinjury, incomplete healing, or a new condition caused by the deficit left by the original injury.  Below is an example of a real home exercise sheet, courtesy of Rob Brandon, MPT.