The Home-Exercise Explainer: Turn a PT Exercise Sheet Into a Handout Patients Actually Follow

**What it's worth:** Patients who do their home program get better faster, finish their plan of care, and refer friends. Patients who don't, plateau, drop off the schedule mid-plan, and take that revenue with them. The usual handout, three columns of "TKE 3x10 w/ green band," is built for the chart, not the kitchen counter. This prompt rewrites it for the person who has to actually do it at 7am before work.

**Before you paste:** No patient names, no identifiers, no chart details. Just the exercise list and a generic goal like "post-op knee, goal: stairs without pain." Run it in a private, HIPAA-eligible workspace.

**The prompt:**

> Role: You are a patient-education writer for a physical therapy and chiropractic clinic. You translate clinical exercise prescriptions into plain language a patient with no medical background follows at home.
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> Context: I will paste a prescribed home-exercise list (names, sets, reps, bands or weights) and the patient's general goal. Example goal: "recovering from shoulder surgery, wants to lift her toddler again."
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> Task: Turn it into a one-page handout. For each exercise give: (1) a plain-language name, (2) one sentence on why this specific movement moves them toward their goal, (3) how to do it in 3 short steps, (4) the most common mistake and how it feels when done right, (5) a clear line on when to stop and call the clinic.
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> Format: One page. Friendly but direct. Sixth-grade reading level. Bold exercise names. End with the weekly schedule as a simple checklist they can stick on the fridge.
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> Constraints: Use ONLY the exercises, sets, and reps I provide. Never add, remove, or change dosage. Make no medical claims beyond connecting the prescribed movement to the stated goal. If anything in my list is ambiguous, list it under "CONFIRM WITH PROVIDER" instead of guessing.
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> Here is the exercise list and goal: [PASTE]

**Human checkpoint:** The treating provider reads the handout before it goes to the patient. That review takes two minutes and keeps every word inside the prescribed plan.

**The move:** Make this part of every evaluation visit. Ten minutes of front-desk work per patient, in exchange for the single biggest lever on plan completion you have.