But is it mandatory right from the start?
A client once came to us with absolutely no expectation that she could ever get better and vocalized her adversity to any type of exercise. Essentially, she let us know to not expect her to follow an exercise routine for treating her pain at all.
Ok, pressure was on.
Like we discussed previously, we're not proponents of the, "Just do it" approach with clients. We can guarantee that this client would have walked out of our door at the end of the session and we would have never seen her again after that.
Props to her, however. She was willing to discuss her unwillingness to exercise and the reasons behind her pain prognosis.
And as the professionals, it was our job to work with her from her starting point. Wherever that starting point was.
That starting point revolved mostly around pain and body education coupled with some gentle movements to do when getting out of bed to limber up the joints. Nothing that we would normally consider exercise.
From there, it was a building process. As results started to trickle in, no matter how minor, it became apparent to the client that success was based upon her own input. After starting with the most minor of homework requests, we slowly developed a willingness to change.
And so we digress: A willingness to change isn't necessary from the start, but a willingness to discuss it is.
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