Group items tagged

This page discusses the differences between work hardening and work conditioning. It also has information about success rates and cost effectiveness.

"If we listen to what those in the camps are telling us, we can provide them with interventions that will serve to increase self-empowerment, create a sense of order out of chaos, provide opportunities for participation in meaningful activities, and decrease depression and anxiety."

This is a type of support wear for lumber support during extensive flexion which does not interfere with everyday activity. Just a little something to keep in mind for clients with chronic back issues, also we as therapist could also use this item.

Great site with handouts for pediatric activities. Great source for later, especially if you have a pediatric rotation for level 2 fieldwork.

This is a video of activities that Aquatic Fitness does during work conditioning. It has several different lifting tasks and shows proper body mechanics. I think this would be good for clients but also for us as well.

The following is a question and answer based article geared towards understanding the many different types of thermoplastic materials available for orthotic fabrication. It is important to understand the ways in which thermoplastic materials behave when activated in order to make them work properly and effectively for each and every orthotic design.

This is a chart with Met level for different activities.

This article in the Washington Post about these two older women ask about their secret to living to 102 -- and their answer is work. These women have always stayed active and busy and found much purpose in their lives. Seems like future occupational therapy assistant students could learn a lesson from these two.

This is a study of the effect of therapeutic exercise on function in stroke patients. It is about just exercise, without meaningful activity, but they used OT as well as PT therapists. It shows a significant gain in function for the patients who received ther-ex.

This is a very detailed PowerPoint regarding Lateral Epicondylitis. The presentation includes the definition, symptoms, assessments, treatments (ranging from activity modification to orthotic interventions) and outcomes. There are great visuals as well -- MRI's and drawings.

I find this website to be very inspiring! It was created by an OT who advocates for the use of dance in therapy.

I love this game is helps the development of visual perception skills, fine motor skills, and sensory processing, crossing midline, eye-hand coordination and so much more. I think it works for adults as well as children.

Sometimes we can get stuck on ways our clients can save energy. This short list is ideas how every client can improve endurance for other activities by changing the way they eat and get ready.

Check this out! Tons of OT interventions ! Description , purpose, and materials are listed. Some activities are more related to children, however, can be modified or changed to focus on adults needs.

Getting a Leg Up: Toe-Operated Mouse Works Like Flip Flop Loss of upper limb function can be devastating for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the disruption of normal, everyday activities. Using a computer mouse becomes impossible for people without the use of their arms, and it's exceptionally difficult for people with nerve damage or other arm injuries.

I know that you are probably wondering what hoarding has to do with OT, but after reading this article on the topic I can see that there is a definite need for OT practitioners. Therapy can include education on increasing home safety by reducing clutter (and tripping hazards) and removing detritus to reduce likelihood of health hazards such as mold and household pests. Since the psychology of hoarding is oftentimes complex, the OT can also work with a team of other professionals to help the client address the underlying issues causing the hoarding. Even the removal of the clutter can be part of therapeutic activity and can be used to train the client on energy conservation as well as frustration tolerance.

This is an article on assistive technology devices and OT! The goal of occupational therapy is to enhance or enable meaningful participation in the occupations (activities) important to the clients served. Therefore, technology is a component of providing occupational therapy services across practice arenas.

Immobilizing your hand at night can be very crucial for some patients. I thought this website on how to make a homemade splint was very interesting and quite simple to make. I would recommend asking the doctor or therapist before using it, But some people prefer to do for themselves and this could be a good thing for that. Also you could incorporate the splint making in an actual therapeutic activity.

I really liked this article because it goes into detail about several different PAMs. But it also goes on to explain in more detail how it should be used as a preparatory activity, and also has different principles to follow when administering or when giving certain tasks to others. I think this is definitely a very good article to have access to that talks about all aspects of using PAMs in therapy.

This article is about a man that knew he needed a hip replacement, but dreaded the long recovery of having one. He talked with a surgeon that recommended using an anterior approach for his surgery because it required much less muscle to be cut through. As a result of using the anterior approach, he had an extremely quick recovery and was able to resume all his favorite actives.