Practical measuresPractical measures Practical measuresPractical measures
are practiced regularly, they will then be transferred
into simple everyday movements.
As soon as a basic exercise has been mastered and
can be executed independently, correctly and eas-
ily, patients are encouraged to try out variations. In
doing this they will be able to find out which move-
ments feel more pleasant or more effective. Patients
can do this on their own or under your direction.
Patients’ creativity should always be welcomed and
reinforced.
Patients should become so attentive that they
are able to recognize, and stop, unhealthy move-
ment patterns quickly. At the same time they learn
to recognize which movements are more economic
and efficient, and where the body works too hard
because of unnecessary muscle activity. Again, these
insights are openly hailed as a success.
The patient’s regular good habits can be used
to establish new habits faster. A useful suggestion
would be to schedule the exercise cycle before some-
thing the patient does automatically. For instance,
if a patient always takes a shower in the morning,
advise her to exercise beforehand. Or if one specific
exercise is already practiced regularly, an extra new
one can be added before it. Thus a new habit can be
added to an old one (Premak 1970).“Just do it!”
Often we tend to boycott something we had
resolved to do. This happens along these lines: at the
very moment when you intended to carry out your
plan, you think about how you are feeling at this
precise moment – you simply don’t feel like doing
something new and would rather keep your famil-
iar habits. At this point, even tedious activities can
seem much more attractive than the new, unfamil-
iar activity. This is why most students start prepar-
ing for exams only when they are under pressure or
why people repeatedly postpone unpleasant phone
calls by taking care of something else instead.
In large companies it is frequent practice to collect
information about specific problems. Based on this
information management then decides on a course
of action, and this decision is relayed to employees
in the form of a directive, with which staff inevita-
bly comply. This is partly because of the hierarchi-
cal structure of the company, although it is best ifemployees are convinced that the directive is based
on a correct decision. In any case, the directive is
executed without going back over the decision
process.
Patients should apply the same principle. After
they have made their decision to exercise they
should decide on the exercise, its start, and its
length. Then they should simply start without ques-
tioning whether they feel like doing the exercise
at that time. Often patients will go back on their
intention to exercise if they think too much about
whether they have the time and energy to exercise.
It is easy to explain this pattern of behavior to
patients, and in so doing, you are increasing their
chance of starting to exercise at their chosen time.
It is also helpful for patients to visualize in advance
carrying out their intention, including all the vari-
ables such as type, place, length, and success of the
exercise.Memory tools
If a new type of behavior is to be established in daily
life there is always the chance that the patient will
simply forget it. This is because ingrained habits
override new and unknown ones. With the help of
memory tools patients can overcome their forgetful-
ness. Small stumbling blocks are used to remember
the intention and to trigger an exercise. Examples
include:
• Putting a towel on the floor where the patient
will see it in the morning prompts the patient
to pick it up and start an exercise linked with
this action.
• The habit of stepping on the scales can be a
prompt to burn some calories first, i.e., by
starting a specific exercise.
• A towel hanging over the bathroom mirror can
act as a prompt to do something to improve
your posture before looking in the mirror.
Again, this should be linked to a certain
exercise.
There are countless possibilities for creating associa-
tive stumbling blocks. These blocks should always
be placed in relation to a predictable daily routine;
then the patient is forced to see the reminder at the
desired moment.