Recovering from an injury or surgery requires personalized guidance and support. Discover how a personal trainer can work alongside your physical therapy to enhance your recovery and keep you motivated.
If you’ve ever experienced an injury, you’re probably familiar with physical therapy.
Maybe you tore your ACL playing soccer; maybe you have a back injury from lifting too many moving boxes; maybe you have an old muscle tear from when you swam competitively in high school; maybe that hit in your last rugby game finally took out your knee. Whatever the case, injuries - whether they result in surgery or not - typically need physical therapy as part of rehabilitation.
Physical therapy is a medically supervised process for restoring movement, strength, and functionality after injury or surgery.
When your body is going through rehabilitation after an injury or surgery, it’s super important that you have proper guidance, motivation, and consistency in order to navigate that process successfully. If you’ve already worked with a personal trainer, you might be asking: could your trainer help with that process? Or do you need to work with a physical therapist in addition to a personal trainer?
These are great questions. Read on to find out how a personal trainer can assist you with your physical therapy journey.
First, let’s talk about what exactly a personal trainer is, and what their qualifications are.
A personal trainer is a fitness professional who can design customized exercise programs for each individual client based on individual goals and needs. This means that when you’re working with a personal trainer, you won’t be doing the same exercise program as any of their other clients. You’ll be doing a program that’s been specifically targeted to your needs.
And when we talk about designing customized exercise programs, we’re talking about more than just personalized workouts. In fact, when a personal trainer creates a customized exercise program for their client, that includes designing targeted workout plans, actively monitoring the client’s progress, ensuring the client maintains proper form for every exercise, providing accountability, and motivating the client. That’s a lot!
In addition, not just anyone can be a personal trainer. Personal trainers should be certified by a recognized fitness organization, such as the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), or the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). And, some of these organizations have specific certifications that include specialized training for injury prevention and rehabilitation support.
So, given the qualifications and experience that personal trainers have, could you use a personal trainer for your physical therapy program?
Absolutely!
In fact, there are actually a lot of benefits to using a personal trainer for your physical therapy.
As we mentioned above, personal trainers can create individualized workout plans. This means that your trainer can actually create an exercise regimen that is perfectly aligned with your therapy goals, and actually complements your rehabilitation.
Trainers are also experts at monitoring progress and adjusting plans as needed.
For example, if you injured your knee in your last rugby game, you might have gone through physical therapy to identify how serious the injury was, and based on that, you might have had knee surgery.
How do you approach working out again after surgery? You might be eager to get back in the gym and, ultimately, back on the rugby pitch. But pushing yourself too hard can result in reinjury. On the other hand, you might err too much on the side of caution and not push yourself hard enough. How do you decide?
This is where a personal trainer can work with you to figure out what’s the best next step for your training journey. They can make sure you’re pushing yourself in all the ways you need to in order to rehabilitate that knee, but also make sure you’re doing all the right things to avoid reinjury.
So when you’re working on your post-injury or post-surgery rehab, your trainer can closely track your progress and make any adjustments to your plan based on that progress. That way you can avoid plateaus and setbacks through your recovery.
In addition, personal trainers provide a ton of motivation and emotional support. This kind of encouragement can help clients stay focused and committed to their recovery journey.
Finally, as part of their certifications, personal trainers know exactly how to help you prevent injuries and ensure proper form. This is critical for avoiding re-injury and (re)building your strength safely.
Injuries can be more than physically challenging - they can be mentally challenging. But with the right support, your rehabilitation from an injury can be a little bit easier.
A personal trainer can not only complement your recovery, but the personalized programs they provide can also lead to improvements in mobility, strength, and confidence.
Check out some of these testimonials from people who have worked with personal trainers as part of their rehabilitation process as part of their journey with injuries or surgery:
"Trainwell has helped me to find the balance I needed! I have a chronic injury and I've gotten so strong in just 3-4 months with my trainer Carissa! My pain is so much less and I can enjoy more and more activities. ” - Elizabeth, Client since 2024
“I am moderately disabled, but my coach Caylene really listened to me about what my body could and couldn't do. I’m looking at a major surgery soon and this will get me as healthy as possible in preparation.” - Laura, Client since 2023
“I’m a 60 year old woman who could never make exercise a regular habit. I have mobility issues and depression. Trainwell is the only fitness service I would never consider quitting. My coach has been with me through serious surgery and, worse, depression that made exercise nearly impossible. She is so encouraging of any movement I do. Trainwell is a huge part of my life, encouraging habits beyond exercise that help me through my worst (and best) times.” - Maryann, Client since 2023
If you’ve experienced an injury and/or surgery, you know that rehabilitation through physical therapy is a significant part of recovery. What you might not know is that a personal trainer can actually support your physical therapy, and enhance your recovery.
Injuries and surgeries can feel like huge setbacks on your fitness journey. It’s easy to get discouraged with the recovery process, or lose motivation. It’s also easy to feel overwhelmed with how to navigate your body’s changing needs during rehab.
But a personal trainer, or a personal trainer app, can be a great support during the rehabilitation phase of your fitness journey.
Many quality personal trainers focus on where you're at TODAY, not where you’ll be tomorrow or where you’ve come from. That means that your personal trainer can meet you exactly where you’re at during each day of your post-injury or post-surgery rehabilitation, even as that changes little by little.
They can design personalized workout plans for today, and each day after that. They can provide encouragement and motivation, customize your workout plan based on the little changes your body goes through as you rehab, and stick with you every step of the way during what can be a super challenging process.
And even better? Some personal trainers actually work with clients remotely. Depending on your injury or surgery, this might be exactly what you need. Why try to drive yourself to physical therapy or to a gym when you could work on your rehabilitation right at home?
Sounds too good to be true? Check out trainwell.
When you’re recovering from an injury or surgery, you need more flexibility and support than you might usually need. Trainwell trainers can meet you exactly where you’re at, with training plans that are customizable as you work your way through this recovery. They can provide motivation, have one-on-one conversations with you about how things are feeling, and adjust your personalized workout plan as needed.
And best of all? You can get access to all of this from the comfort of your own home. That can be a huge advantage when you’re injured or recovering from an injury.
Ready to get started? Great! Trainwell offers a free 14-day trial so you can see if this fitness experience provides everything you’re looking for. Explore trainwell’s 14-day free trial to find your next personal trainer: https://join.trainwell.net/
Written by Ella Browning.
