You went to physical therapy. Whether it was an injury, surgery, pregnancy, or something else that made you choose to initiate care, you are done now. During your visits you learned about posture, breathing, body mechanics, and retrained your brain and muscles to communicate. The problem is, it takes a lot of brain power to focus on your movements so much. Thinking about how you get in and out of the car, sit in a chair, walk, transition from sitting to standing, transition from lying down to standing, lift, carry, climb stairs, run, or whatever else you learned. It is exhausting, and you just want to go back to enjoying life without thinking about every movement of your body. Now your question is:

How long after rehab can I stop being so conscious of my body mechanics?

The short answer is, as soon as those movements become unconscious. The real goal of all this consciousness is to retrain your brain and muscles. You want to walk up the stairs and know that the “right” muscles will turn on and off at the right timing to let you climb the stairs without knee pain. If you can maintain half consciousness and feel your body moving the way that your physical therapist has taught you, then you are at least part way there. After working with my clients for a while on breathing and consciously engaging the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles, then I often use jumping as a test. I ask if they can feel contractions and relaxations happening as they move. If so, then they are carrying over the techniques and their muscles are engaging unconsciously. If your physical therapist did not test these unconscious patterns for you, then you can try to test on your own.

With some activities you should always be conscious

Before you get annoyed, hear me out. This sounds like bad news, but it really is normal. When you are climbing stairs, walking, transitioning sit to stand or lying to standing, etc., you should experience unconscious muscle engagements. These are basic movements that you would normally be able to complete while thoughts are going in and out of your consciousness. When you are doing activities or movements that are challenging to your body, then you should be conscious of how your body is moving. Everyone will always have at least a few movements that are new or difficult for their body, and you should be conscious of how you are moving whenever you are stretching your comfort zone. These are not your every day activities, but movements you complete infrequently.

1. Any hard exercise - ex: planks, squats with heavy weight, yoga, etc

2. Lifting heavy objects - everyone has a weight that for them is high enough they need to be conscious of their movements and make sure the right muscles are engaging in the right order

3. Risky maneuvers - ex: climbing on a high ladder

Keep in mind that your comfort zone should and will shrink when you are tired. If you have not slept well or have been working or working out for hours on end, then you should probably be more conscious of your movements to avoid injury.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions!