I recently started reading Push by sports medicine physician Dr. Jordan Metzl, and one of his early observations caught my attention: knowing that exercise is good for us isn’t necessarily enough to keep us exercising.
For rehabilitation professionals, that raises an interesting question. You put tremendous effort into helping patients regain strength, function and mobility. You measure progress, establish goals and work toward greater independence. But eventually, formal rehabilitation ends.
What happens next?
For many people—particularly those recovering from stroke, living with neurological conditions or mobility limitations, or dealing with age-related loss of strength—the need for exercise certainly doesn’t end when therapy does. The challenge becomes moving from rehabilitation to sustainable fitness.
That requires more than simply telling someone to remain active. People need exercise options that are accessible, appropriately challenging and capable of progressing as their abilities change. Just as importantly, they need something they are willing to continue doing.
That idea has particular relevance for us at VitaGlide®
. We often talk about functional upper-body movement, independent right/left resistance and wheelchair accessibility. Those are important features in a rehabilitation setting.
But perhaps the bigger question is what those features make possible after rehabilitation: an opportunity to continue building strength, cardiovascular capacity and confidence rather than simply trying to maintain what was gained in therapy.
I’m only a few chapters into Push, but it has already reinforced something I believe is worth discussing in rehabilitation:
Discharge may mark the end of therapy. It shouldn’t mark the end of progress.
