RSCC Occupational Therapy Assistant Program

This article is pretty amazing in that a senior in college used a 3-D printer to make herself a better splint for an injury that happened while playing softball.

Here is an instance where a dynamic splint made the news. A U.S. Ambassador to South Korea was knifed in the face and hand, and this news clip and article discuss his injuries and the brace that was made for him. I find this very interesting as I am right in the middle of Early Chapter 20 -- Hand Splinting.

Links include information on state occupational therapy practice acts and regulations. Resources include reference charts on scope of occupational therapy practice, and state requirements regarding continuing competence, OTA supervision, and referral.

This is a very thorough and reliable study, which will especially be helpful for all of you who are considering to advocate for more physical education and recess at schools! The basic recommendation within these guidelines is that children and youth, should engage in at least 60 minutes (but up to several hours) of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per day to gain significant health benefits. Aerobic exercise has the strongest impact on overall physical and mental health.

This is a MUST read!! This is an incredible story of a woman who can smell Parkinson's disease. After making this assertion, some scientists came up with an experiment to test her claim. Her smell could be a breakthrough for finding an early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

How interesting! I wonder what it is that creates the particular odor? Sounds like additional research is called for here.

This is a very interesting read, discusses new tool that is more accurate for doctors to help diagnosis forms of dementia. It goes into more depth on the two most common types. :)

It used to be that Alzheimer's could only be determined for certain by autopsy. I believe that's changed now, with scanning techniques and biomarker testing. Tests like the one in your article give me a lot of hope that within the next generation, we'll be able not only to better treat dementias, but maybe even prevent them.

I loved this! My mom has RA and always asks me to help her put on her makeup. These are some really good tips to know if you ever come across this in treatment. I am going to suggest most of them to my mom!

Thanks, Breanne! I like this topic. If I ever end up in the nursing home, I've wondered about doing my own makeup. I hope I'll be able to, LOL! I have a blush case from Belks that is so hard to open. I often think as I struggle around with it how many little old ladies who also shop at Belks are cursing this dumb case! We need universal design for makeup containers.

This is a slide presentation by AgrAbility which does a little bit of teaching about ergonomics and also shows lots of examples of adapted garden tools. I don't garden, but I found this presentation interesting because a lot of older people I know garden, and I enjoy eating their produce! Grips, handle lengths, lightweight materials and the like are described and suggested, either to purchase or make yourself. There's also information about gardening with arthritis and general safety precautions.

We talked about thermostatic splints today in class. Thermostatic splints are lighter, can be removed for cleaning, and can easily be molded to the client's body. This page shows the different types of thermostatic splints that are available, and what the cost would be. The splints are not cheap, but if the client will need the splint for a long period of time it could be a cost effective option.

I have seen this website before to self laced shoes for individuals with decreased fine motor abilities, but I also found they my orthotics and prothestics! I didn't know you could just peruse online for things like that!

Interesting information and such a proactive treatment for clients at home! Yoga can help to relieve arthritis pain by creating more mobility in the joints and flexibility in the muscles around the joints. While pain should be respected, this article does point out the "use it or lose it" idea. Not to mention the other benefits Yoga would offer, such as deep breathing to reduce stress.

Here's a site that identifies 10 wonderful arthritis gadgets. I think we've seen most of them in lab. It would be nice to have a list like this that we could give to our clients.

This site has 9 hand exercises to help ease arthritis pain. I thought this was helpful since it demonstrated the exercises.

This is a site selling bags that are made to hold iPads or other tablets for children who use them to communicate. Cute and useful :)

I found this interesting that there are 3 exercises that can help against carpal tunnel. I actually tried them as I watched each little clip.

This is a very good video demonstrating median nerve gliding. I found this very interesting because I have been told I have problems with my nerves in the same area. I am starting to wonder if this is something I may benefit from.

Very helpful video! I am gonna try it. I have alot of neck pain anyway, and I think this may help me? If not, maybe I will at least get a good stretch out of it. :)

Was looking up shoulder strengthening exercises and ran across a run down of several benefical exercises from wrist exercises all the way to shin splints!

This is a newspaper article about a little boy diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (J.I.A.) and his mother's search for a cure. The mother thinks there is a connection between leaky gut syndrome and the JIA. It is a very interesting read, especially reading about his symptoms prior to diagnosis. (spoiler alert -- it has a good ending).

This is a heartbreaking disease. Children should be able to frolic in the fields, not have to deal with such a thing as this. :(

This is a documentary that follows 3 teenage girls with autism as they get ready for prom, and learn how to transition into adulthood. Education and early intervention is important with ASD, but as OTAs we also need to remember that these individuals will be dealing with their autistic symptoms for most of their life. This documentary gives us a glimpse into their lives, relationships, families, and therapy sessions as they learn the social rules and cues of the adult world. I wish I had HBO so I could watch this. I encourage all of you to watch it if you can. It looks like a beautiful documentary that shows the basic desire we all have to be loved and accepted.

Another visual learner alert! This is a very detailed image about rotator cuff tears. It really helped me understand it better to see it and I thought out of all the images I looked up this was the best, and more realistic looking one. It also has just about everything labeled which is really great!