Group items tagged

Print out our checklist to use with your patients to help them develop individual stress management strategies. Click here to print now! Stress is a commonly under-recognized, untreated dimension of recovery, rehabilitation and medical intervention. While all patients seeking medical care experience stress, for individuals with disabilities the dynamics are not the same.

The checklist Richard mentioned is a great resource! Thanks Richard. I plan on using this in the future. :)

Great article about how to help our patients with chronic conditions manage stress that impacts their daily activities.  Personal stories of stress management coping skills and how to help our clients identify their personal triggers. This article has some great questions for patients to ask themselves when identifying their personal stress management techniques.

CDC's public health activities to prevent and control disease include a substantial focus on chronic disease management. Advance care planning can be a gift you give yourself and your family. It is about doing what you can to ensure that your wishes and preferences are consistent with the health care treatment you might receive if you were unable to speak for yourself or make your own decisions.

I have known people with COPD and to be honest, I never really knew exactly what it was. I just knew that they had it because they smoke. (The people who I knew) This link provides a look into what this disease does to someone emotionally, as well as physically. How sad to have to grieve just as if you have lost a loved one. This disease can cause you to have anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and problems with sex and intimacy. Sex is an ADL! So much more to this disease than I every knew.

Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition that accelerates the rate at which your skin cells grow. An effective method to treat psoriasis is phototherapy or light therapy.

Psoriasis is an auto-immune illness that affects almost three percent of the world's population. People who suffer from psoriasis experience a great deal of skin irritation and discomfort.

This site gives some good information on causes, symptoms, treatments, and prevention for COPD.

SuperBetter helps you achieve your health goals - or recover from an illness or injury - by increasing your personal resilience. Resilience means staying curious, optimistic and motivated even in the face of the toughest challenges. Jane McGonigal developed this game while recovering from a concussion, you can watch her TED talk or check out her website at http://janemcgonigal.com

Great handout! Covers many areas.

Tips for pursed lip breathing and pulmonary rehabilitation. When you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, shortness of breath may be a daily and unwelcome fact of life. Perhaps your doctor is urging you to enter a pulmonary rehabilitation program to help you manage your disease better.

My good friend Ragi Doggweiler is a researcher and practicing physician in this field. Once located right here in Knoxville she has moved back to her homeland of Switzerland. We have often had conversations about what PT's could do for this population but until I revisited this paper I had not thought of the under-utilization of OT practitioners in this area. While PT can and does work on the physical aspects of these issues OT would greatly enhance the treatments in so many ways.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disorder for which there is no known cure. Fortunately in the last few years, a shift in strategy toward the earlier institution of disease modifying drugs and the availability of new classes of medications have greatly improved the outcomes that can be expected by most patients.

This article talks about the four most common upper extremity injuries. They are hand or wrist fractures, hand or wrist sprains, chronic pain, reoccurring acute injuries. I have not had any upper extremity injuries that I can recall, but I'm sure I will some time in my life time. I have had friends to have carpel tunnel and had surgery for it and they still have issues with it, even after the surgery. I seen several severely injured hands in my first semester of clinicals at an outpatient rehab. Not a pretty sight. Hand injuries and other upper extremity injuries happen to all ages and can be the most inconvenient injuries.

Would you prioritize sleep if you knew it kept your immune system strong? That's the question the American Academy of Sleep Medicine wants you to ponder this week. Lost in the hoopla surrounding Independence day was the publication of some eye-opening (or eye-shutting) research by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine showing that the immune system responds sharply to sleep loss.

This article emphasizes the correlation between stress and sleep. No matter our age, everyone needs plenty of sleep to properly function. Sleep is a time for our bodies to "reboot". Just like stress, lack of sleep is harmful to one's overall well being. The article lists similar physiological effects that are caused from lack of sleep that our text book has listed for chronic stress. High stress levels and an inefficient amount of sleep wreak havoc on a persons immune system. It is always easier said than done, but we all could improve our health by finding ways to reduce stress and sleep more.

I like to share this website because there are a lot of powerful tips on how to prevent injuries and chronic pain from daily activities such as self phone use, carrying purse, briefcase, work on the computer, etc.

This is an article describing work hardening in occupational therapy. It is promoting a rehab center, but gives a good definition of work hardening and how OT can help people return back to work. It promotes education to prevent injuries and teaches clients how to cope with symptoms of chronic pain.

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.

This is an evidence based report on how therapeutic occupations and activities within a CIMT (constraint induced movement therapy) approach were used with a 52-yr-old woman 4 years after having a ischemic stroke to enable her to return to her occupational role of skilled violinist.

Here is a poster that list ten easy ways to reduce stress and to help your patient or yourself avoid the terrible symptoms of chronic stress.