mind

In recent years, I’ve been getting intensive physical therapy (aka physiotherapy)  for some complex musculoskeletal issues. When doing the exercises prescribed by the PTs,  one thing that baffles me is which tool to use for the timing. For example,  sometimes I need to stretch one leg for 30  sec, then switch to the other leg,  and then alternate between legs. Other times I may need to do some isometric exercise for 2 sets, 5 reps within each set, 10 sec each rep. If your goal is to run for 3 minutes, you can use all kinds of tools, a physical timer, your smartphone, or your smartwatch such as Fitbit. But for repetitions of short-duration exercises, those tools are cumbersome for many reasons. The essential problem is that you need to stop and restart too frequently. Then people will naturally look for apps that allow them to program the training. We’ve seen fancy workout apps that are helpful for fitness routines, but do they work for rehab as well? Not for me.  Sometimes I need to rest for an uncertain amount of time depending on the condition of my body. From the perspective of health care, it’s never a good idea to push yourself to finish the reps in a hurry. So I tried the indigenous Clock app on my phone. Its “timer” feature sends out 4 Hz clicks in the background; in other words,  every 4th click indicates a second. It seems very convenient — no need to estimate how long a second is. The sound serves as the coordinate axis in the dimension of time. I can even play music or podcast on my phone as long as I pay attention to the clicks. But there is a problem: the sound stops when the screen locks itself automatically. As I’m not quite savvy in tweaking my Android phone’s settings,  I decide to look for a different app. It turns out I have something wonderful on my phone already. It’s the Metronome Beats app. If you are a musician, you probably already have that installed. Go to its settings, and change the tempo to 60 beats per minute, i.e. 1 Hz. Optionally, change the “beats” variable to 5 if your duration is a multiple of 10 sec. Now you have the coordinate axis of time playing in the background. I have used this minimalistic approach ever since, in combination with the printed program of exercises —no, I don’t recommend relying on video apps for physical therapy (I may explain this in a different article). With the metronome on, this time you won’t be able to play Spotify or other audio apps. If you are eager for another stream of sound to be added to the boring clicks, you can use another device. Usually, I just focus on counting the seconds, since I realize both music and podcast disrupt my counting sometimes. For other exercises which do not specify exact durations, just pause the metronome and play what you want. Theoretically, multiple users can use this app to guide themselves in the same room. How? Go to “preferences” for “custom sounds”, and choose their preferred pitch and timbre for the sound. During the practice, each user needs to pay attention to their distinct sound patterns, which requires some level of aural skill. However, that won’t be necessary in most cases, because people in the room can share the same coordinate axis of time. One smartphone serves all. Here’s the link to their website, where you can download the app. Metronome beats Now, let me explain why I think this app works the best. When you are counting 30 seconds, you are combining two cognitive tasks. First, you need to estimate how long one second is. Your brain is unable to achieve that without external reference. Second, you need to count the integers, which forces you to be mindful of what you’re doing. With the help of the metronome, you only need to perform the 2nd cognitive task. Hence reduced load yet not autopilot. Be careful: if you lose track of the numbers, that’s probably because you fail to maintain the mind-body connection. I used to be very bad at it, because I listen to music and podcasts which require serious comprehension. Come on, now that you have paid for expensive PT sessions, please allocate more attention to the tasks when necessary. Yes, you are also responsible for counting the sets or loops, but it’s easy to do, either mentally or…mentally. Believe me, you can do it. I was trained in cognitive science, so unlike some IT professionals, I wouldn’t debug codes while running on the treadmill. I love automation, but not autopilot. I believe the brain needs to actively engage in physical activities. In short, I recommend using a metronome, be it physical or digital, for PT exercises. In that way, you get to control your pace. What do you think? Do you have another interesting tool to share? Please leave a comment down below. [Correction] I previously used the term “Cartesian coordinate” in this article, but later realized it refers to 2-D or 3-D systems in common language. If you’re interested in my content, please kindly subscribe to my newsletter. I will only post when I have something meaningful to share. 1~2 posts per week. This article is written with the assistance of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a voice dictation desktop program. Bonus: I made this short music video about time: In whatever time we have – Children of Eden music written by Stephen Schwartz