HEP2go, a physical therapy exercise reference

November 15, 2022 5:52 PM

HEP2go is a site that helps physical therapists and other rehabilitation professionals create home exercise programs for patients and clients, and helps patients by providing clear instructions and examples for each exercise. The inventory of exercises is divided up by anatomical category and exercises are annotated with text descriptions, photo illustrations, and -- in many cases -- short demonstration videos. (Click the "play" icon in the lower left corner of the photo to get a Vimeo inset to pop up and play.)
posted by brainwane (16 comments total)

I was literally just wishing for some easy way to look up these kind of exercises for my various aches, so this is just eerily timely!
posted by mittens at 6:02 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

ha i had just done something weird to my knee, and my mom is mostly recovered from a broken femur, so this is extremely nice. thank you!
posted by bxvr at 6:21 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is a gold mine. Thanks for posting.
posted by missinformation at 6:43 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Yes digging through youtube is just frustrating, very cool discovery.
posted by sammyo at 6:54 PM on November 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

🎉
posted by aniola at 7:53 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

I also have used this app, apparently put together by Norway's olympic team.
posted by piyushnz at 9:05 PM on November 15, 2022 [3 favorites]

A big blanket best answer to a large number of as yet unposted AskMe's. Thanks brainwane!
posted by kaelynski at 9:29 PM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Is there a reference for getting me to do my PT homework?
posted by rebent at 6:36 AM on November 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

This feels like the sort of thing that some admin will look at the usage stats a month from now and realize they accidentally left the door open.
posted by Kyol at 6:54 AM on November 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

so this is just eerily timely!

Ha ha, I stumbled on this post while sitting in my physiotherapist’s lobby.
posted by TangoCharlie at 10:09 AM on November 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

rebent: maybe some videocalls with other MeFites? I'd be happy to join one.

Kyol: I hope not.... Especially because there is a particular view at a related website, at HEP.video, that's meant to help clients. Your practitioner gives you a printout or sends you an email with a list of all the exercises you're meant to do, and each one has an associated code, such as VVQGB3WMY. You go to hep.video and paste that in to watch the video. But that's a lot more limited and doesn't have the textual instructions.

But the Terms of Use do say

This Site is intended for Rehabilitation Professionals such as Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, PTA's, COTA's, Speech Therapists, Athletic Trainers and MD's.
....
You will not use HEP2go if you are not a health or fitness professional that works in the professional field with appropriate skills to give such exercise advise to others.

So yeah, I don't know. Hope they don't put it all behind a "must log in" wall and then gatekeep really hard on who's allowed a login.
posted by brainwane at 11:15 AM on November 16, 2022

But yeah, definitely useful - I only honestly remembered two or three of the PT exercises I was supposed to be doing, even though they taught me at least twice as many, the subtle differences between then just wafted away the second I walked out of their office. Having an email with a link would've done me a world of good.
posted by Kyol at 11:46 AM on November 16, 2022

Now I know where my PT gets all those handouts he gives me every week. Thank you!
posted by Lynsey at 1:42 PM on November 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

piyushnz that app is genius! And I’m definitely going to sign up for the HEP2go website (if they let me as a non-practitioner) — I have hypermobility so PT is a way of life and an everyday thing. It would be nice to just hand it to a physio and say: click the ones you want me to do, and have it save it in my own account rather than dealing with the sheets of paper and the emails that get lost, etc.
posted by antinomia at 2:41 AM on November 17, 2022

I think a big reason non-practitioners are not supposed to sign up is that signed-in users can upload new exercises, and they'd prefer that all exercises be made with someone with some qualifications.
posted by brainwane at 6:04 AM on November 17, 2022

I'm gonna upload this new exercise I came up with where you reach for a pen on your desk and somehow tear your rotator cuff.
posted by mittens at 6:14 AM on November 17, 2022 [3 favorites]