What is occupational therapy?
Occupational therapy is designed to help people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities. The goal is to enable people of all ages to live an optimal, healthy lifestyle by providing prevention and adaptation strategies to injury, illness, or disability.
Common occupational therapy ailments consist of wrist, hand, neck, back and numerous other upper body parts often caused by over use or poor positioning in daily routines. These can occur for children and adolescents from sports or schoolwork positions to adults with work, life, or fitness habits.
Occupational Therapists maintain the outlook that you often have to adapt the environment to the patient and not always the patient to the environment. This perspective is based upon evidence-based research and has proven to be a successful treatment methodology. Although this concept may seem simple, it is essential to have an Occupational Therapist evaluate your injury/pain and provide the accurate and effective therapeutic intervention.
What can a hand therapist do for me?
A hand therapist is a specialized Occupational Therapist or Physical Therapist that can offer some ideas to make your work, home and hobby space safer and less stressful to your body. These ideas can be applied to prevent injuries, as well as treating your current symptoms. Ideas can be specific to your activities and routines. After injuries, a hand therapist can help you on the road to recovery. Your hand therapist may suggest stretching or rest routines to ease strain during specific activities. They may also recommend different types of tools to make jobs easier for you.
Finally, a hand therapist can help make suggestions to change your environment to optimize your ability to complete tasks. Poor workspace setup can cause pain in many different body parts. Check out our Ergonomics page to learn more.