Occupational therapy is a type of health care that assists in the resolution of problems that interfere with a person’s ability to do the things that are crucial to them, such as:
- Self-care includes dressing, eating, and moving around the house.
- Being productive entails going to work or school and participating in community activities, sports, gardening, and social activities.
What is an Occupational Therapist?
Occupational therapy (OT) is an allied health profession that entails the therapeutic use of everyday activities, or occupations, to treat physical, mental, developmental, and emotional ailments that interfere with a patient’s ability to perform daily tasks.
Occupational therapists are healthcare practitioners who use therapeutic techniques to improve, rehabilitate, or maintain a patient’s motor skills and overall ability to perform daily activities.
Occupational therapy differs from other healthcare professions, such as physical therapy or nursing, in that it treats the entire patient rather than a specific injury, ailment, or physical disability.
Roles of an Occupational Therapist
Occupational therapists help their patients by bringing a therapeutic perspective to everyday activities. In general, occupational therapists are responsible for assisting patients in developing, recovering, and improving from a condition or injury and maintaining the skills required to carry out daily activities. But what exactly does this entail?
In general, occupational therapists are in charge of many duties and tasks related to patient care. An OT’s responsibilities vary depending on the setting in which they work.
- assessing a patient’s condition and requirements
- Creating treatment plans to meet a patient’s needs and assist them in meeting specific goals
- Assessing a patient’s home and work environment and recommending changes to meet the patient’s needs and increase independence
- Teaching patients and carers how to use specialized equipment
- Assessing and documenting progress for evaluation, billing, and reporting
Who needs Occupational Therapy?
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- poor balance
- cerebral palsy
- Alzheimer’s disease
- low vision
- spinal cord injury
- joint replacement
- stroke
- brain injury
- Arthritis and chronic pain
- poor balance
- mental health
Occupational Therapy VS Physical Therapy
Although occupational therapy appears similar to physical therapy at first glance, the two fields are quite different. The occupational therapy occupation works with a person holistically to address their physical, mental, and emotional conditions and help them engage more effectively in their daily lives. On the other hand, physical therapy is primarily concerned with movement and healing.
For example, a person recovering from knee surgery would see a physical therapist for assistance walking, bending, and putting weight on their knee. A stroke patient would see an occupational therapist to learn how to do daily tasks like brushing their teeth and adaptively changing their clothes.
The main distinction is that physical therapy primarily focuses on reducing pain and restoring body movement. In contrast, occupational therapy assists the patient in regaining independence and confidence while performing activities of daily living and other personally meaningful pursuits.
Benefits of Occupational Therapy
Safely Increase Range of Motion and Strength
- Changes in the amount of available movement in joints, such as the shoulder joint, can result from surgery, arthritis, or a stroke. Occupational therapists help their clients improve their range of motion by doing the following:
- Active assistive range of motion, in which therapists stimulate the performance of action for their clients by assisting them in making small joint-related movements.
- When a person moves their arm or undertakes other joint-related movements, they are said to have a dynamic range of motion.
- Proper body positionings, such as lying down on one’s back or side, also restore independent function with the full range of motion. In a lying position, gravity’s resistance is reduced while joint mobility increases. Pain can quickly occur if a person continues to push themselves too hard and too soon while being improperly positioned.
- Compensatory prevention techniques are designed to allow for some movement while also building strength. Shrugging the shoulder upward and bringing the arm close to the body is a common compensatory technique used by people with weak shoulder joints. Although this allows for some movement, it will eventually cause pain and decrease strength.
2. Reduce Pain While Increasing Strength
When one muscle is weak, the opposite muscle may become overly tight, resulting in pain. Compensatory techniques, such as hiking the shoulder to keep the arm close to the body to relieve pain, frequently result in muscle imbalance and, as a result, increased pain. When using compensatory techniques that involve shoulder movement, the chest muscle often tightens, causing the muscles around the shoulder blade to weaken.
3. Purchase Adaptive Strategies and Equipment
An occupational therapist’s ultimate goal is to improve a person’s ability to perform daily activities independently. Participants will notice an improved range of motion and, in most cases, will naturally be able to perform critical daily tasks again with the assistance of an experienced occupational therapist due to the positive effects resulting from the essential benefits of occupational therapy.
4. Enhance Your Visual Skills
Vision changes can occur due to eye disease, brain injury, or stroke. These changes cause blind spots in our vision. Visual changes can impair a person’s ability to walk or read confidently. Occupational therapy can teach optical adaptive techniques like scanning and pre-reading strategies to improve reading performance and experience.
5. Home Safety Inspections
The peace of mind gained from a home assessment performed by an experienced and trained occupational therapist is a significant benefit of occupational therapy. These assessments address home safety by assessing the amount of clutter obstructing walkways and other living spaces, the amount of adequate lighting, and the need for adaptive equipment.
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