How to keep up your physio exercises at home

Your physio gave you a handful of exercises to do at home, a few times a week. Then life happens: a busy week, a day the knee feels fine, a day it doesn't. Keeping up with the plan, and telling your physio honestly how it went, is a big part of what you can control.

Make it easy to do

• Pick the days now. Put the sessions on the days and times you'll really do them, the same way you'd book an appointment.
• Keep it where you train. If your exercises sit in the same app as the rest of your training, they're one tap away instead of on a sheet of paper.
• Log as you go. Tick off each set as you do it. It's faster than remembering later, and it's what your physio will look at.

Rate pain the same way each time

A 0 to 10 scale works when you use it consistently: 0 is no pain, 10 is the worst you can imagine. Rate right after the sets of each exercise, not at the end of the day, so the rating belongs to the movement. A few numbers over a couple of weeks tell your physio far more than "it's been okay".

Know when to stop

Stop and get in touch with your physio if you feel sharp pain, pain that builds through the session, swelling, numbness or tingling, or a joint that gives way. Don't push through those to finish a set. See training around an injury.

In Liftsmith

Enter your physio's code under Settings › Coaching, then turn on Share pain and injuries for them if you want them to see your ratings. It's off until you do. A rehab program they send keeps every exercise as written even with an injury logged, and asks how the area feels after each exercise's sets. Being a client is free. Liftsmith isn't a medical app and doesn't give medical advice; your physio does.

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