Counting reps out loud in rehab isn’t childish. It’s how you keep your head from wandering into fear.

Saying the count out loud gives your head one job and stops it taking on a worse one. The real difficulty in rehab is often not the movement but what your mind does during it: rehearse the injury, wonder whether this is the rep where it goes again. A number spoken aloud leaves less room for that.

Use any simple outside thing to hold your attention: counting, a steady song, somebody counting with you. Keep it the same each session so it becomes automatic. If fear shows up at one point in the movement, mention it to whoever is treating you, because it changes what they would have you do.