Nearly all conditions we see in the clinic either need exercises for strengthening or for increasing mobility and sometimes both! In an ideal world joints retain strength whilst also being highly mobile. Sadly reality is rather different. After injury nearly all conditions suffer from weakness in the related muscles.... because of this the muscles are less able to move the joints in a coordinated fashion resulting in the joints becoming increasingly stiffer. It is also sadly true that we get less mobile with age and as our joints lose range of movement so the muscles become weaker.
We often have a problem getting the message across to people that for exercises to be effective they need to be done regularly several times a day - not merely as you get out of bed and before you get back in! Improving strength or mobility takes time - for most people that is a minimum of 6 weeks. We try to give exercises that can be done without having to get into contorted positions! They need to be done regularly and regardless of who is looking on so they must be easy to do.
Most conditions will be very slow to improve unless exercises are done regularly and intensively. The common prescription of 10 times three times a day is very unlikely to be sufficient to give any meaningful improvement in terms of strength - three sets of 20-30 repetitions, 5-6 times daily would be more effective. Exercises that involve stretching must be held for a minimum of 30 seconds, preferably six times a day.
So if you are given exercises make sure you understand exactly what is involved and then do them .......little and often!