As a Chiropractor I get this question often. Why should I spend time in the office doing exercises when I can do them at home?   Our clinic is special in the fact that along with my Chiropractic degree  I am also board certified in rehabilitation and we have a Licensed Athletic Trainer on staff to provide the hands on supervised therapeutic exercise.  This includes exercises to help strengthen weak muscles, stretch tight muscles, and help with balance, support, and control.  We will provide an exercise program specifically designed for your needs to accomplish your goals.  Patients will often ask why they must be placed on a supervised exercise plan instead of being given an exercise hand out with instructions to perform at home alone.

Studies repeatedly show that when a patient is given unsupervised home exercises, the out come is not nearly as good as supervised exercises.  Performing exercises at home only without direct supervision has increased odds of the patient not performing them correctly, or not performing them as often as they should.  Having a trained professional supervising allows constant and direct input on your form and quality of exercise.  Also the professional can modify the exercise whenever needed making the exercise more challenging or possibly taking one out of the routine because its too demanding.  This ability to observe and modify the exercise plan as needed makes the time spent for the patient much higher in quality resulting in faster results. 

An article titled Systematic Review: Strategies for Using Exercise Therapy To Improve Outcomes in Chronic Low Back Pain found in the Annals of Internal Medicine (see link Below) compares supervised to unsupervised exercise.  This study used randomized controlled trials to evaluate exercises in populations with chronic low back pain.  The study concluded the following. 

“The most effective strategy seems to be individually designed exercise programs delivered in a supervised format…”  

The article also concluded that when adding other types of conservative treatment at the same time as the supervised exercise there is even greater improvement in function outcomes and less pain!  This is exactly why we offer Chiropractic, Massotherapy, and supervised exercise rehabilitation at our office.  All three working together gives you, the patient a stronger faster healing for not only low back pain but any soft tissue injury. 

To learn more about our on staff licensed Athletic Trainer, click here

To read the actual article in the Annals of Internal Medicine click here