The patients who make the fastest, most durable progress at TKM Labs aren't the ones with the mildest injuries — they're the ones who show up prepared, ask good questions, and do the work between visits. Here's how to be that patient.
1. Treat your home program like the treatment
What happens in the clinic is a catalyst. What happens the other 165 hours a week is the rehab. If your DPT prescribes three exercises twice a day, hit that dose. The plan is calibrated for it.
2. Track how you're feeling
A one-line note after each session — pain level, what felt easier, what still catches — turns vague memory into hard data. It lets us fine-tune load, volume, and progressions faster.
3. Communicate between visits
If something flares, or an exercise doesn't feel right, tell us before the next appointment. Small tweaks made early save weeks of stalled progress.
4. Keep moving — smartly
Rehab isn't rest. Modified training, walking, and general activity almost always beat total shutdown. Ask your DPT what's green-lit, yellow-lit, and red-lit for your case.
5. Finish the plan
The biggest mistake we see is patients discharging themselves the moment pain drops. That's when strength, capacity, and durability are still catching up. Complete the plan and you get an injury that doesn't come back — not just one that stops hurting.
6. Trust the process, question the plan
Ask why. Ask what success looks like at week two, week six, and discharge. A good DPT welcomes it — the plan gets sharper every time you push on it.
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