Group items tagged

Tendinitis is a condition caused by an inflammation of the connective tissue that connects your muscles to your skeleton. It can be caused by repetitive stresses placed on your tendons, a shortening of the connective tissue as a result of aging or placing too much stress on a tendon.

A list of hand and UE injuries

So many people are diagnosed with diabetes today. I thought this would maybe help anyone who did want to learn more information on this topic.

This page from the AOTA website contains links to various topics associated with the aging adult. These are tip sheets that explain different conditions and how OT can help. These include aging in place, living with Alzheimer's, fall prevention, hip replacement, home modification, low vision, driving and stroke. In addition to the tip sheets, there are links to videos for aging in place, home modification and precautions the elderly can take to prevent falls in the home. This is a great place to look to obtain a lot of good information on a variety of problems the elderly can face and how occupational therapy can help this population.

Neurological Disorders Many illnesses target the nervous system, affecting mobility, speech and skill, just as in stroke. Rehabilitation plays a key role in providing treatment and improving symptoms. Scientists at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conduct research across the country to study neurological disorders.

This may be old news to some individuals but these are some pretty cool feature for individuals with certain, as Jennifer Isham would say, diffabilities. As OTA it is our job to keep our client connected and active in the activities they love. What better way to accomplish this than by teaching them these neat feature on their telephone which make the phones accessible. Communication through the telephone is necessary and with the majority of phones being smart phones they also needs to be implemented as an assistive device to help individuals throughout the day. Not only are the accessibility features very useful but other features on the smart phone can serve as a useful tool for some cognitive deficits such as short term memory loss. For example, the phone can remind them of appointments or to take medications. The Android system, whether you own an LG G3, Galaxy S4 or Nexus 5, has a number of accessibility options built in for those hard of hearing, suffering from a vision impairment or any other number of other conditions that might make the standard operation of your Android difficult.

In the war against aging, Alzheimer's disease is one of our biggest foes. But while we seem to be losing the battle, we may finally have found some chinks in its armor. The most common form of dementia already affects an estimated 5.2 million Americans and 45 million others worldwide, and these numbers are projected to triple by the year 2050 as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement.

Even though Alzheimer's disease fell into our psycho-social class, it still is a huge component of the ageing process for many people, and a condition that we will most likely be dealing with.

I found some very interesting information about upper extremity amputation. The article tells about the procedure and the role of the occupational therapist in the recovery process. With this procedure, an electrical prosthesis is controlled by the mind via nerve innervation. The nerves from the amputated arm are transferred to the pectoral muscles where they regenerate, which in turn allows movement of the prosthetic arm. I included this link from another website as well because there are videos available to watch. http://www.ric.org/conditions/prosthetics-orthotics/bionic/

I love this website. It should be titled "Restrictions Made Easy." The Occupational Therapy Department at the University of Washington Medical Center has created this website to provide handouts for multiple conditions to include sternal precautions, ADLs following surgery of the abdomen, self-care after breast reconstruction, etc. This website will make it easy to accurately advise and treat our patients.

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.

Dysphagia symptoms, causes and treatments are discussed in this article. What I thought was interesting are the complementary and alternative therapies that are suggested for dysphagia such as certain types of herbal teas. (There is a warning to be careful with using herbs while taken certain medications.)

I shared this as I feel the Mayo Clinic is a strong source for medical information. I have heard a lot of discussion regarding special diets for those with arthritis and it is interesting to know that there is no absolute proof regarding this.

I know someone has posted about palliative care, but I wasn't sure of the difference between palliative and hospice. So, I began to research it and it made sense to me as to why it is better to get palliative care. It also said that it helps to increase the survival rate by 3 months. Also, here is another link to shows you the difference of each. http://www.stcam.com/hospice/palliative-vs-hospice/

Treatments for disorders of the UE. There are pictures of the devices, the indicated diagnosis, purpose, and benefits. A great resource if you work in a clinic that does splinting/orthotics. These are custom fabricated and there are benefits associated with making your client's splints-removable, adjustable, reform-able, can get wet, and can be cleaned.

This article is a good read on splinting! It discusses different kinds of splints and ways they can be used for therapy.

This page details a number of custom hand orthotic devices and what conditions they treat and their purposes.

Answers for the new childhood epidemics... Autism ADHD Asthma Allergies The statistics are alarming. Diagnosed cases of autism, ADHD, asthma, and allergies are increasing exponentially, especially among children. If your child is struggling with any of these conditions, you know that the search for answers can be overwhelming.

In our combined lab with PTA students, one of my scenarios involved tennis elbow. This video explains some helpful exercises for this condition and would be good to share with patients. It also explains that tennis elbow is now seen as being degenerative rather than inflammatory and as tendinopathy instead of tendinitis.

This video is very informative - I have learned something new. Thanks for posting it!

Very helpful Beth!

A Taiwanese designer named Sha Yao began her project in creating tableware for Alzheimer's patients due to her grandmothers deteriorating condition. She based her designs and color usage due to a study finding that the use of bright colors increased the amount of food and liquid consumed by patients. Every piece of the tableware is designed with dementia patients in mind. Some of the adaptive silverware and plates with lips should look familiar from our pediatrics class!