How can you improve exercise adherence, reduce fear around movement and help low back pain patients actually enjoy exercising again?
In this practical presentation, Dr David Toomey (NZ Titled Musculoskeletal Physio, PhD) explores why clinicians often unintentionally make exercise more complicated than it needs to be, and demonstrates simple strategies to make rehabilitation more engaging, less intimidating and easier for patients to stick with.
You’ll discover why excessive cueing and overanalysing movement can reduce confidence, increase fear and create rigid movement patterns, and learn practical ways to simplify your coaching, gamify exercises and encourage more natural, enjoyable movement.
David also demonstrates practical self-massage techniques that patients can use independently to temporarily reduce pain, improve comfort and increase confidence with movement, while discussing the importance of evidence-based messaging that avoids reinforcing unhelpful beliefs about tissue damage or “tight muscles.”
In this presentation you’ll discover:
- Why over-cueing can reduce confidence, increase fear and make exercise less enjoyable.
- How to simplify exercise instruction without sacrificing clinical outcomes.
- Practical ways to gamify rehabilitation using simple equipment such as dice and playing cards.
- Strategies to introduce more spontaneity, variety and enjoyment into low back pain rehabilitation.
- How reducing perfectionism can improve movement confidence and exercise adherence.
- Practical self-massage techniques for the gluteal muscles, lumbar paraspinals, quadratus lumborum and hip flexors.
- How to frame self-massage as a temporary pain-modulation strategy rather than a structural treatment.
- Why patient beliefs about massage and pain matter, and how to address unhelpful narratives.
- How to prescribe self-massage that patients are actually willing to continue at home.
- Clinical tips for combining self-massage with exercise to improve comfort and participation.
You’ll leave with practical strategies to simplify your exercise coaching, improve patient engagement and help low back pain patients become more confident, active and consistent with their rehabilitation.
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