It goes without saying that the holidays can be a busy time of year, and it can get easy for some aspects of our life to get lost in the shuffle. Oftentimes it’s healthy habits that fall by the wayside this time of year, which is another reason why health-focused New Year’s resolutions are some of the most common choices when the new year rolls around. Don’t let your healthy habits like exercise and physical therapy routines fall by the wayside this holiday season. Below, we share some tips on how you can keep your physical therapy sessions on track throughout the holidays.
Doing PT During The Busy Holiday Season
As your work and social calendars start to fill up near the end of the year, it can be hard to find time for other activities, like physical therapy and regular exercise. Don’t let your PT routine become irregular simply because you’re traveling for the holidays or your PT clinic is observing some holiday hours. Be deliberate in how you approach your PT routine this holiday season so that everything stays on track. Here’s how to do just that.
- Wake Up Earlier – If it’s becoming a little harder to find time to do your daily home-based physical therapy routine as the holidays approach, make a concentrated effort to wake up 20 minutes earlier than normal or stay up 20 minutes later than normal to get them in. If you can’t find time, you need to make time. If you don’t, your progress will stagnate and may even regress. Make it a habit of regularly carving out time for PT instead of just hoping you’ll find time each day.
- Write It Down – Many people thrive with lists, and writing down our goals and our actions can help hold us accountable. Write down your physical therapy goals for the day and week, and check them off as you go. Force yourself to write down whether or not you did your exercises each day, and you’ll find yourself gravitating towards completing your exercises so that you can be proud of what you’re writing down. Use lists and a journal to hold yourself accountable when life gets busy.
- Get Consistent Sleep – We know that we told you in the first point to wake up a little earlier or stay up a little later, so this tip may seem a bit ironic, but it’s imperative that you consistently get enough uninterrupted sleep. Sleep helps to restore your energy and make it easier for you to attack the day and be active. If you’re up late and not getting enough restful sleep, you may be groggy or tired, and that can impact your motivation to complete your PT exercises. Recharge your batteries every night so that energy and motivation aren’t working against you the following day.
- Every Single One – Make it a point to do your physical therapy exercises from home every single day. As soon as you skip one session, it can be a slippery slope to get back on track. Now you’re doing them every other day, or you tell yourself you’ll start back up after the holidays. Do not let yourself skip even one. Pride yourself on always being consistent, and don’t let failure even enter the equation by always making time to get your PT exercises done each day.
- Go Online – Finally, if you can’t make it in to see your physical therapist in person, or you won’t have time to get into a clinic over the holidays for a new pain, consider setting up a virtual visit with a member of our team. This can save you a lot of time, which as we’ve talked about throughout this blog, can be fleeting this time of year. To learn more about our virtual PT options, or to schedule a virtual appointment, head on over to this page.
Have a wonderful holiday season, but don’t let it throw off the PT routine you’ve worked so hard to develop. For more information, or for assistance with any physical injury or discomfort, reach out to the team at OrthoRehab Specialists today.