Home exercise programs (HEPs) are a set of recommended activities given to clients and parents to work on at home to increase generalization of skills practiced in session. Home exercise programs are tailored specifically to your goals, allowing you to play a role in improving your own functional abilities, management of pain, and recovery timeline. HEP compliance is key to seeing a change in you or your child's success because it allows for newly learned skills to be regularly practiced and integrated into your daily routine, ensuring that you not only maintain progress between therapeutic sessions but are also increasing progress, leading to increased development and attainment of functional abilities.
Key reasons HEP compliance is important:
Increases confidence in skills and abilities
Improves pain management
Decreases the risk of re-injury
Increases range of motion, strength, coordination, and endurance
Improves speed of recovery
Prevents future functional decline
Retains benefits of therapeutic intervention between sessions
Increases motor learning
Decreases costs associated with increased duration of therapeutic sessions
Increases chances of recovery
Examples of simple, low-cost, non-time consuming HEP activities:
Puzzle play: pre-writing skills
Play dough or putty: hand strengthening, fine motor skills
Lifting heavy jars or sauce bottles: strengthening wrist and arm
Catching and throwing balls: bilateral coordination, social interaction
Pinching clothespins: hand strengthening, fine motor skills
Squeezing a stress ball: hand strengthening, fine motor skills
Coloring and drawing: pre-writing skills, self regulation
RESOURCES
Benefits of home programs for children: Why occupational therapists use them and why they are important?. Kinspire Health Resources. (n.d.). https://www.kinspirehealth.com/blog/benefits-of-home-programs-for-children-why-occupational-therapists-use-them-and-why-they-are-important
Ring, S. (2023, July 27). The importance of your physical therapy home exercise program. BenchMark Physical Therapy. https://www.benchmarkpt.com/blog/importance-of-your-physical-therapy-home-exercise-program/#:~:text=What%20Are%20the%20Benefits%20of,with%20chronic%20or%20progressive%20conditions
Schwartz, M. (2023, August 11). Occupational therapy home programs. The Virtual Pediatric OT. https://www.thevirtualpediatricot.com/home-programs/
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