16 to 22 November 2026 is Self Care Week, and it’s a good moment for family members and carers supporting someone with a neurological condition to ask a simple question: who is looking after you?
When you’re caring for someone else, it’s easy to put your own wellbeing on the back burner. But to look after someone well, you need to keep your own batteries healthy and well charged. The good news is that self-care for carers doesn’t need a gym membership or specialist equipment. It needs a little time, a little space, and permission to put yourself first.
Self-care for carers starts with you
People who work full time get scheduled rest breaks. When you’re caring for a loved one, those breaks are easily overlooked, yet they are essential. So start by deciding when and where yours will happen.
Self-care for carers planning your own time and space
Our neurological physiotherapist Jacqueline Boyle gives advice to people in rehabilitation, and it works just as well for carers too. In her top 10 tips for home rehabilitation, she recommends setting aside a dedicated space: “It doesn’t need to be large – even a corner of your living room works.” She also suggests choosing the same time each day: “Whether it’s morning coffee time or after your favourite TV programme, consistency helps embed exercise into your daily life rather than treating it as an optional extra.”
Movement snacks: little and often
People who care for others often say lack of time is one of their biggest barriers to exercise. That’s where movement snacking comes in. There are quiet moments in every day that, with a little thought, you can ring-fence for yourself:
- While the kettle boils: 3 minutes. If you have five brews a day, that’s 15 minutes.
- While you clean your teeth with an electric toothbrush: 2 minutes, twice a day.
- During the ad breaks in Coronation Street: four breaks of 3 minutes.
Use these minutes to march on the spot or do squats, holding the worktop for balance if you need to. Make them count and they add up to around 30 minutes a day, or three and a half hours a week, with no equipment, no travel and no membership fee.
As Jacqueline says, “Celebrating these smaller victories maintains motivation for the longer journey.”
Listen to your back
Caring often means stooping, reaching and leaning for long periods. If your back is aching, it’s telling you it has spent too long bent forwards and needs to stretch out. When we support others, we often forget to listen to what our own bodies are telling us.
Try this simple exercise to re-energise your back:
- Stand facing a wall with your toes against it and your hands flat on the wall at shoulder height, chest close to the wall.
- Push back through your arms, keeping your hips in contact with the wall.
- Stretch out through your back as you look up at the ceiling.
Move gently and stop if it hurts. If you have any health concerns of your own, check in with your visiting physiotherapist.
Jacqueline’s advice on listening to your body applies here too: “Some days will be better than others… even gentle movement maintains momentum.”
Get outside: walk and reset
Research suggests that regular walking can improve blood flow to the brain, support clear thinking and help you feel calmer. A 20-minute walk is a simple way to get all three, and it’s an essential thing to seek out when you’re on constant high alert. Jacqueline’s tip for making it stick is to enjoy it: put on your favourite music or an interesting podcast.
When you can’t get out for long, try the 5-minute reset. Step outside into the fresh air, close your eyes and focus purely on your breathing. Start with 60 seconds and build towards five minutes.
Ask your physiotherapist for advice
Remember, for a physiotherapist, looking after you matters as much as supporting the person they’re treating. Without you, their progress would be limited. If any of your caring tasks are causing you discomfort, such as helping someone to stand, bend or transfer, why not ask the physiotherapist who visits for advice? They are the movement experts, and everyone deserves to move without pain or restriction.
Keep it going, and don’t do it alone
Jacqueline reminds people in rehabilitation that “recovery isn’t a solo journey”, and neither is caring. Ask family and friends to cover so you can take your break, and mark your sessions off on a calendar so you can see your consistency build. Some weeks will go to plan and some won’t. As Jacqueline says, “Setbacks are normal, not failures.”
If the person you care for sees one of our physiotherapists, don’t hesitate to mention how you’re coping too.
At SP Therapy Services we provide home visits across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and South and West Yorkshire, with specialists based in Bury, Bolton, Blackburn, Stalybridge, Barnsley, Holmfirth and Bradford. To find out how one of our specialist neurological physiotherapists can support you and your family, contact our team.