When it comes to injury rehabilitation, correcting movement dysfunction, and getting out of pain, physical exercise is vital to reaching these goals. While selecting the right types of movements or exercises to perform is a critical initial step, performing each of them with the ideal frequency is just as critical for your success.
As a general rule, strengthening exercises for physical therapy should NOT be done on consecutive days. Exercises designed to stretch or relax a body part can potentially be performed every day if the exercise or movement is gentle, pain-free and non-fatiguing to the area.
Performing certain types of exercises too quickly can lead to excessive soreness or even worsen conditions. Conversely, not performing them frequently enough may not lead to any progress. Finding the right frequency can be a delicate balance and one that can get confusing for those trying to strike the right balance for optimal recovery.
But don’t worry; this article will walk you through the basics of knowing how often to perform general physical therapy exercises based on what different types of exercises are designed to achieve.
So, if you want to know more, keep on reading!
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• Category 1: The best frequency for strengthening exercises
• Category 2: The best frequency for mobility-based exercises
• Category 3: The best frequency for motor retraining exercises
Disclaimer: While I am a physical therapist, I am not YOUR physical therapist. As a result, I cannot tell you whether or not any treatments mentioned on this website may or may not be appropriate for you, including how often to perform your physical therapy exercises. By following any information within this post, you are doing so at your own risk. You are advised to seek appropriate medical advice for any pain you may be experiencing.
Related article: Here’s The Best Time of Day to Perform Your Physical Therapy Exercises
The best frequency for strengthening exercises
Plenty of therapeutic exercises in the world of physical therapy are designed to help recover or improve physical strength to a particular area of the body either after an injury has occurred or when certain conditions or diseases have caused muscle weakness.
For example, common conditions such as an ankle sprain, a rotator cuff tear, Achilles tendinopathy or prolonged bed rest may all require general strengthening to the area(s) and muscles that have become weak.
With physical strengthening exercises, it’s often best to have at least one full day of rest before performing the exercises again.
Related article: Physical Therapy Exercises: Here’s How To Stick To Them For Success
Depending on the extent of muscle or tissue weakness and the intensity of the exercise(s) being performed, even more rest may be required between sessions. Two full days of rest might be necessary in many circumstances.1
The reason for this rest is that your muscles and other associated tissues need time to physically recover from the mechanical stimulus that the exercises imposed onto the actual tissues.
Remember this: Stress + Rest = Recovery
There is a whole lot of amazing physiology going on for this process (way beyond the scope of this article). Still, essentially your body needs time to respond to the challenge it was just given from the exercises. The response is to build more tissue and improve the health of the current tissue.
So, under most circumstances, don’t expect to be doing these exercises every single day if you’re doing them to strengthen a body part. Two or three times per week for a given area of your body will likely be sufficient under typical circumstances.
Pro tip: If you feel that you still have any fatigue or soreness after your previous therapeutic exercise session, it’s likely a good idea to hold off on your next session of performing these exercises until the soreness or fatigue is gone. Keep in mind that this isn’t always the case. Still, it’s a good general rule to follow, especially for those unfamiliar with physical exercise in general.
The best frequency for mobility-based exercises
Therapeutic exercises are often also commonly prescribed for helping individuals improve their range of motion or movement within a specific region of their body. This can be done as a means to help eliminate pain or reduce dysfunctional movement (which can cause pain) and/or to restore normal functional movement to the area.2,3
These types of exercises typically include various types of stretches, foam rolling, or other soft-tissue techniques such as instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) or hands-on massage techniques.
Related article: IASTM: Here’s How It Works to Decrease Pain And Improve Mobility
When it comes to restoring movement through improving range of motion, therapeutic exercises associated with this goal generally don’t have a strengthening component; the goal is not to get stronger but to move better.
As such, there tends to be a higher weekly frequency (and sometimes even daily frequency) for which these types of exercises can be performed. This isn’t always the case, mind you, for a couple of different reasons:
Mobility-based exercises can still cause generalized soreness after the exercise(s) or movements have been performed. Body parts that are a bit tight, bound up, or otherwise restricted can become sore when given movements and exercises that challenge the mobility of these tissues.
Think of this soreness as the result of tight/grumpy tissues not being happy with the fact that they just had to go through something they’d rather not do.
The soreness that can result is not a bad thing (so long as it’s not unnecessarily excessive) and sometimes may last for one or two days, depending on the intensity for which the exercises are performed.
Pro tip: These types of exercises generally produce the most soreness the first few times they are performed. As the muscles, joints and other tissues begin to have their motion restored and become healthier, less soreness will occur after each time you perform the exercise(s).
If you are performing any of these sorts of exercises and are not experiencing any soreness the following day, it’s likely safe to perform them again. The intensity for which this category of exercises is performed will largely dictate the frequency at which they can be done.
Think of it this way: Stretching or mobility exercise intensity is inversely proportional to the frequency you can likely perform them. In other words, the higher the intensity, the less frequently they should be performed, and the lower the intensity, the more often they can likely be performed.
If your physical therapist has instructed that you keep these sorts of exercises to be very gentle and not provide any discomfort while doing them, you can likely perform these exercises more than one time a day. But if you’re uncertain, be sure to check with them.
Oftentimes, stretches and movements that are so gentle that they produce no discomfort at all while performing them can often be performed multiple times throughout the day as needed. And remember, just because you may not feel a stretch or a sensation of challenge with the movement, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not effective!
The best frequency for motor retraining exercises
The third category of exercises that exist within the world of physical therapy exercises is what is known as motor control exercises. Motor control refers to our brain’s ability to coordinate movement with an area of the body that we are consciously attempting to move.
Motor control isn’t concerned with strength, nor is it concerned with mobility, but rather with movement quality being dictated by the brain.
Think of muscles, bones, joints and all the other physical tissues of the body as parts of a computer. These physical parts would be the hardware, referring to actual structural components.
Think of the brain’s ability to control the body’s movement as the software; it’s the program that executes the instructions to carry out the movement(s).
Sometimes these motor control exercises are designed to “eliminate the bugs” in the software. When the software runs more smoothly or ideally, we can control our movement in more ideal ways. This can eliminate movement dysfunction (which can lead to issues with pain and reduced mobility).
Since the exercises in this category are designed to improve the brain’s ability to coordinate general movement, they can often be performed as often as needed, provided the individual can concentrate on the task at hand (since these exercises generally require lots of concentration).4
No physical strengthening occurs with these exercises, and they are not creating physical changes to tissue mobility or quality. As a result, there is never really any soreness produced from a purely motor control-based exercise.
So, if you’ve been given a movement-retraining (motor control) exercise, it’s likely safe to do as often as desired, as it’s a type of exercise that is essentially more for your brain than for your muscles or tendons.
Final thoughts
The frequency with which you do your physical therapy exercises will depend on many individual factors; however, one must always consider the nature of these exercises.
If your exercises are designed to strengthen an area of the body, aim for 2 or three times per week on non-consecutive days. If your exercises are designed to help improve range of motion, you may be able to perform them every day if gentle enough or multiple times per day if done extremely gently. And if your exercises strictly aim to re-wire your brain’s movement pattern, you can very likely perform those exercises as frequently as you want each and every day.
Whatever your exercises are aiming for, stick with it! The end result of feeling better and moving better will be worth it!
References
1. Grgic J, Schoenfeld BJ, Davies TB, Lazinica B, Krieger JW, Pedisic Z. Effect of resistance training frequency on gains in muscular strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2018;48(5):1207-1220.
2. Behm DG, Alizadeh S, Anvar SH, et al. Foam rolling prescription: A clinical commentary. J Strength Cond Res. 2020;34(11):3301-3308.
3. Pearcey GE, Bradbury-Squires DJ, Kawamoto J-E, Drinkwater EJ, Behm DG, Button DC. Foam rolling for delayed-onset muscle soreness and recovery of dynamic performance measures. J Athl Train. 2015;50(1):5-13.
4. Nicholson V, Watts N, Chani Y, Keogh JW. Motor imagery training improves balance and mobility outcomes in older adults: A systematic review. J Physiother. 2019;65(4):200-207.
Hi! I’m Jim Wittstrom, PT, DPT, CSCS, Pn1.
I am a physical therapist who is passionate about all things pertaining to strength & conditioning, human movement, injury prevention and rehabilitation. I created StrengthResurgence.com in order to help others become stronger and healthier. I also love helping aspiring students and therapists fulfill their dreams of becoming successful in school and within their clinical PT practice. Thanks for checking out my site!