It’s quite common for seniors to need home physical therapy in order to help them stay mobile or to recover after a long hospital stay or a fall.
Physical therapy can sometimes be painful, and tedious, but it’s necessary to help them regain their mobility and stay active.
Here are a few tips to help increase their motivation to continue the exercises they need to stay healthy.
Make Home Physical Therapy Fun
It’s important to make physical therapy fun for seniors so that they are more motivated to do the exercises. Turn on some fun music that they like and make it like party when it’s time for physical therapy.
Or do the physical therapy exercises in a different theme or style each day.
Dress up in costumes to do them. Anything that you can do to make your senior parent laugh and look forward to doing their home physical therapy exercises will be great motivation.
Use a Reward System
Reward systems aren’t just for children. You can make a large chart to hang on the wall that has a slot for each day.
Every day that your senior parent does their physical therapy exercises without complaining put a gold star or some fun sticker on the chart.
When they do the exercises for a week, they can qualify for one type of reward like a take out lunch or new socks or something small that they would like.
Then for two weeks up the prize a little.
Then keep upping the prize each week so that at a month, they get a big reward like a trip to the movies, a lunch at their favorite restaurant, or a new outfit.
Gamify it
Another great way to get your senior loved one more motivated to participate in physical therapy is to make it a game.
Challenge them to do their exercises every day and do the exercises with them.
If they can keep up with you then they get bragging rights and maybe a special prize.
If you do the exercises and they don’t then you get the prize and the bragging rights.
Or, you can create some other type of motivational game. Making it a game should motivate them to do more.
Do it At Home
Sometimes part of the reason why seniors don’t want to do physical therapy is because they don’t want to do travel to a facility and do it in front of other people.
They may prefer to have physical therapy at home.
Physical therapy at home is an option for seniors, and your senior parent might be much more willing to do their exercises when they can do them with a trained, home physical therapist.
Be sure to ask them if they would prefer their physical therapy be done in the comfort of their own home as opposed to going into a medical office.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Physical Therapy in South Miami, FL, please contact the caring staff at Angel Home Care Services today. Call (305) 220-4544
A Trusted Home Care Agency in the Kendall, West Kendall, Kendall West, South Miami, West Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Doral, Cutler Bay, Sweetwater, Florida and surrounding areas.
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