# Why your physio gives you homework

> Thirty minutes a week with us, a hundred and sixty-eight without. Why the exercises at home do most of the work.

Kwame Asante, 2026-08-19 · https://linen.themes.dev/journal/why-your-physio-gives-homework/

A follow-up takes thirty minutes. There are a hundred and sixty-eight hours in a week. The sessions matter, but most of the change happens in between.

## What the exercises do

Tissue adapts to what you ask of it, a little at a time, repeated. One session a week is not enough repetition for a tendon, a muscle or a joint to change. Three short sessions at home are.

## How to make them stick

- **Tie them to something you already do**: after brushing your teeth, before the kettle boils.
- **Keep them short.** Ten minutes done four times a week beats forty minutes done once.
- **Write down how it went.** Your plan has a line for each day. It tells us, at the next session, what to change.

## When they don’t fit

If an exercise hurts more than a four out of ten, or you simply can’t find the time, say so. A plan you can do is better than a perfect one you can’t. We will change it.