It is important to adhere to the rehab process and protocol that your sports medicine professionals give you. That means that you voluntarily and collaboratively maintain a rehab program recommended by a rehab professional. With rehab adherence, there is a time-line and a goal. A person may stick to an eight-week physical therapy routine with the goal of returning to play at the end of rehab. Rehab adherence is usually short-term and outcome-focused, which typically makes it a better goal than just trying to maintain an exercise routine.
Psychological Factors Impacting Adherence
There are several potential psychological factors that influence both rehab adherence and rehab outcome. The next sections will explore these psychological factors. Youâll see that some factors are negatively associated (-) and others are positively associated (+) with rehab outcomes. Click each title to learn more.
Measuring Rehab Adherence
Now that we know all these factors that impact rehab adherence, letâs consider how we can measure rehab adherence itself. There are four main factors we can consider:
- Appointment attendance. The more you attend, the more you are adhering; the better results you should be seeing also.
- Practitioner ratings. There is a rating scale for PT/PTAs to complete that measure if patients show up on time, stays focused, asks questions, shows interest in the process, etc. The higher your practitioner rates you, the more likely you are to be putting forth a good effort when at your appointments.
- Completing of home treatments. When at PT, you will be doing important work, but the home treatments are equally important.
- Avoidance of potentially harmful activity. If you are avoiding activities that might hurt you or your progress, then you are likely more committed to the process and trusting of the professionals.
As you read this list, it should make sense. The more you attend your appointments, the more youâll adhere to the program and the better results you will see. That is kind of like working out! If you never go to the gym, you arenât going to stick with your exercise program. If you only workout when with a trainer, you wonât see the same results. If you are sabotaging your progress with harmful activities (exercising extra or more intensely or not adhering to your diet), you may actually see the opposite results of what you had hoped.
Setting up Success
So, who is more likely to adhere to rehab? You might have predicted this as you read, but our summary says that individuals who are more:
- are self-motivated and resilient/mentally tough
- attribute their health and recovery to behaviors that are within their control
- believe in the effectiveness of the rehab program
- have self-efficacy that they can complete the program successfully
- perceive their injury as serious enough to be concerned, but are not overwhelmed by pain or emotional distress
The rehab environments that set patients up for greater success have:
- supportive rehab staff
- good rapport with professionals
- comfortable and convenient clinical setting
As you work through your rehab process, be sure to check in with yourself and with your rehab environment. Check your adherence to the protocol. Stay focused on the process as you strive for the end goal.
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