ABSTRACT
Humans are designed to move. Our movements are facilitated via a healthy musculoskeletal (MSK) system. When the MSK system is in dysfunction, restoring movement is a primary rehabilitation goal-a goal that is generally achieved through the prescription of therapeutic exercise. The American Physical Therapy Association (2001) defi nes therapeutic exercise as the “systematic and planned performance of bodily movements, postures or activities intended to provide a client with the means to remediate or prevent impairments, improve, restore or enhance physical function, prevent or reduce health-related risk factors, and optimize overall health status, fi tness or sense of well being” (p. 682). Numerous textbooks detail therapeutic exercise prescription linking varieties of impairment (e.g., loss of endurance) to recommended therapeutic exercises (e.g., open or closed kinetic chain), and descriptions of exercises by body part, by body region or specifi c population (e.g., postoperative) (Hall and Brody, 1999; Kisner and Colby, 2002). Despite the widespread use and excellent description of therapeutic exercise, a broad review of the literature has revealed that there is limited evidence of its effectiveness.
