Creative physical therapy exercises
Abstract
The field of physical therapy has great variation in setting, patient age, injury, and circumstances which creates a great demand for creativity in program treatment. Each patient, injury and their personal goals are unique so their recovery should be as well. Any physical therapist can individualize a patient's treatment programs by modifying, progressing, regressing, changing engagement, or creating new exercises. The creation of a new physical therapy exercise should have purpose and target muscles in order to be applicable to other patients' treatments in the future. The purpose of this project was to create four unique exercises designed for specific populations. The purpose of the Star Excursion w/ Dice was to change the level of engagement of an exercise while turning a repetitive exercise into a fun one for younger patients. The Lateral Plank Pod Walks is a new exercise with the purpose of helping shoulder patients work on shoulder and core stability, controlled mobility, shoulder strategy, and scapular stabilization. The Pod Walk Course is another new exercise whose purpose is to be more engaging, it is also for patients to practice balance and stability along with ankle strategy and with other activities, controlled mobility. Lastly, the Study Board BOSU is an exercise modified for at home use. These exercises were thought of with creativity, observation, and connection. Physical therapists' creativity is important to the individualization of their patients' progress and recovery.