How do I get my mother to do her physical therapy?

There are a few ways you can encourage your mother to follow through with her physical therapy program. One, make sure she gets a hand-out with pictures and written instructions so she knows exactly what she’s supposed to do. Also, it’s been shown that people are more successful with exercise regimens if they do them in the morning, so you can encourage her to make this a part of her morning routine, maybe before breakfast or her shower. If you're able, you can go to a physical therapy appointment with your mom just to make sure the therapist is doing a good job of explaining the benefit of each exercise. These specifics can be motivators. For example, I'll tell patients that certain exercises will strengthen the muscles to help them get up from a chair more easily. Understand the purpose of an exercise, can make someone try harder.. (You can ask the therapist to do this if she's not.) Finally, just remember the old adage about leading a horse to water but not being able to make it drink -- you can be supportive of your mom but relieve yourself of the burden of feeling you need to make her exercise. This is up to her. I've had to come to terms with this myself as I try to encourage my patients to follow through with their programs. Good luck!