This week we celebrated World Occupational Therapy Day, a day dedicated to both promoting and celebrating the amazing work carried out by those within the OT world.
The great news is that occupational therapy is for everyone. An Occupational Therapist (OT) can help anyone with reduced mobility or strength to maintain, develop or even recover the skills needed to carry out their daily tasks.
As we age, our bodies can become slower, we may have reduced range of motion and are memories aren’t as sharp as we might hope. All of this and more can make the daily tasks difficult and annoying at times. Tasks like cooking, cleaning, dressing can all become cumbersome and we need some help.
It’s with this, that we wanted to share more about occupational therapy and how it can benefit you and/or potentially a loved one make life safer, easier and help maintain independence.
What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy is where a healthcare professional (an OT) offers supports to anyone with physical, psychological and/or social issues to help them live their lives to the fullest.
An Occupational Therapist may not have a particular location of work, they can be found within:
- hospitals
- clinics
- schools
- visit you at home
In short, occupational therapy is here to make life safer and easier at home, to help you carry out every day tasks without issue. This can also include recommending daily living aids that will do just that.
How Can Occupational Therapy Help?
Encourage Independence
You’ve never noticed your nose and how well it works for you until you have a cold/flu and its blocked. The same can be said for being able to carry out tasks independently. We don’t really take note until we can’t do something.
One of the biggest challenges faced by those who work with Occupational Therapists is a loss in their independence. It could be that they can’t get up and down the stairs or close shirt buttons.
It may not seem like a lot but needing someone around to help can affect your confidence and this is where occupational therapy comes in. They understand where the struggles are and they know what is needed to help you get back and maintain your independence. This could be with a exercise routine, stretching poses or even .
Betters Your Range of Motion
As you age, your general range of motion will decrease over time. This can be down to a number of reasons, whether it be through illness, conditions, stiffness and even lack of exercise. Naturally, this can make life more difficult.
Working with an Occupational therapist means that you will be given a personalised treatment plan that will include stretches, an exercise plan and aids that will help or improve your range of motion.
Better Quality of Life
An Occupational Therapist has one sole goal – to help make life easier by increasing and helping you to maintain independence. By doing this, they are helping to improve your overall quality of life.
Along with regular exercise to help better your range of motion and using daily living aids, you will be able to comfortably and confidently navigate the home. With this, you are bound to feel happier, independent and more confident in your abilities.
Recommendations for Your Home
You will be able to bring an OT into your home to assess you living situation. They will ask questions and observe you and how you work within specific spaces. It’s a good idea to write down a few points. Especially on areas you struggle with so you don’t forget to talk about them on the day.
The purpose of this is for the OT to create a list of recommendations. This will be focused on how they can make life easier for you at home. This could include hearing more about:
- A stair lift
- Grab rails
- Anti-slip flooring and removal of loose mats
- Daily living aids to help in various rooms in the home like the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom
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