It’s easy to think of physical therapy and rehabilitation happening strictly from the neck down – targeted strengthening exercises, assisted stretching, and the occasional bit of massage. After all, you’re dealing with muscles, tendons and the like, right? But what if addressing the mental aspect of injury recovery and movement enhancement is just as important? Research has revealed that just as much of the battle happens in your brain as in your body, and that Visualization or “Guided Imagery” is a very useful tool.
Visualizing Movement Produces Real World Results
It might sound funny but it is tremendously helpful to visualize success when undergoing physical therapy. If an injury or similar has impacted the range of motion in your shoulder, for example, it’s helpful to start your treatment regimen with a mental image of what your restored range of motion is going to look like. Rehab can be grueling and progress can be slow, but visualizing successful completion is the best way to stay motivated and work through the challenges and discomfort you encounter. The trauma of injury can leave you hesitant to move your body the way you used to and visualizing successful recovery can help overcome that fear.
Beyond simple motivation, actively imagining yourself performing a motion (for example, reaching above your head) can enhance your future ability to actually carry it out. To make this visualization more effective, you can try “seeing” all of the discrete muscle groups working in tandem to make it happen. Imagine the individual contractions and extensions of the muscles working to move your body a particular way. Repeated visualization of this type can reinforce the electrochemical activity in your body needed to perform the desired action. Studies have shown that even if you’re not physically practicing a particular motion, your brain pathways will undergo the same changes via visualization exercises, building up the muscle memory you’ll need to accomplish your movement goals.
The practice is so effective that many athletes incorporate it into their training regimens even outside of injury rehab! An added bonus of this kind of training is that it can be done on “off days” when you’re supposed to be resting, or immediately after surgery when you’re not supposed to be moving yet. You can also use these methods to extend your training sessions when you don’t quite have your stamina built up.
As the saying goes, “the brain is the strongest muscle!”
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