Innovation in Exercise Rehabilitation

At TrackActive Pro we believe in evidence-based rehabilitation. For over 70% of exercises included in our database, we summarise, reference and provide links to research that have studied an exercise or a protocol of exercises.

However, we also believe in innovation in exercise rehabilitation. Innovation is at the core of progression in any industry or field of study. Innovation in healthcare will lead to improved patient outcomes, and therefore improved health. And with exercise methods increasingly being shown to improve outcomes across a broad range of chronic diseases and conditions, innovation is so important to continue this trend.

So what does innovation in exercise rehabilitation look like?

We’ve discussed before how technology is central to this. The use of exercise prescription with monitoring capabilities (www.trackactive.co), wearable technology to quantify activity levels (www.fitbit.com) or quality of movement (www.bpmpro.co.uk), and assessment tools to measure athletic power (www.kinetic.com.au).

But how can the rehabilitation practitioner contribute to innovation in rehabilitation? It does not need to involve technology, and you are probably doing it most days in your clinic. It’s experimentation. Logical, ethical experimentation. Have you designed an exercise, or made a modification to a well-known exercise that you now frequently use with patients because you’ve seen it work? (And just as importantly can rationalise why it works?)

When you go to an exercise rehabilitation course you are often presented with new, innovative ideas. An exercise that you haven’t seen before or read about, but when you see it, and try it, you can understand its benefits. No research yet to back it up, but it’s grounded in exercise principles that will mean it will work.

This is the basis of progression in rehabilitation. Evidence-based rehabilitation must be the mainstay, but innovation is just as (or more?) important. And how do we continue to improve rehabilitation methods? By sharing our innovative ideas and exercises with others.

And this is why at TrackActive Pro, we created the Community Exercise Database. To give us all an opportunity to share our exercise ideas, learn from each other, and ultimately help those who need it most – our patients and clients.