What does Occupational Therapy for neuro-rehab involve?
Occupational therapy aims to promote health and wellbeing through occupation, encouraging individuals to participate in everyday activities of life, working alongside occupational therapists to achieve this client- centered health profession (WFOT 2012). Encouraging the retrieval and advancement of independence through everyday life skills and needs. Neurorehabilitation similarly aims to enhance development and help individuals, more specifically, who have suffered a neurological condition that is impacting their everyday life. Many common neurological conditions that often involve occupational therapy includes; stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury, Parkinsons disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) and dementia and more, all of which cause significant physical, cognitive and emotional challenges. By combining both occupational therapy and neurorehabilitation, many challenges caused by these neurological conditions can be overcome through many different methods, mainly looking at adapting the physical environment, teaching the individual a new skill and or personalizing unique solutions for clients (Bresi- Ando 2017).
Getting Back to Basics: Goals of Occupational Therapy in Neuro-Rehab
With the foundation of increasing a person's independence, there are many different goals in aiding everyday abilities, such as promoting cognitive rehabilitation. This addresses cognitive deficits such as memory and attention, working alongside the executive function of the brain, enhancing people's decision-making skills and manageability of everyday tasks. Functional independence is also a vital goal, helping with essential skills like dressing and eating and bathing. Occupational therapists also look at enhancing motor skills in order to achieve a range of motion and strength, which may have been impacted by their neurological condition. Facilitating the transition from rehabilitation to integrating into community is also vital for occupational therapy, promoting individuals to actively take part in leisure events. Self- care and psychosocial well-being are also basic goals which have detrimental effect on a person's coping strategies and mental health, especially during the rehabilitation process (The OT Centre).
Tools for Transformation: Techniques and Approaches in OT
The six main approaches and interventions to occupational therapy involve activity analysis, addressing the physical, cognitive and emotional requirements in order to match an individual's abilities and ultimate goals within the rehabilitation process. Making effective use of adaptive equipment to meet the needs of patients, such as wheelchairs, canes and crutches. These mobility aids can also work alongside adaptive utensils, for eating and dressing, or specially designed clothing, such as elastic waistbands to help people dress with ease. Environmental modifications similarly take this approach of aiming to adapt the home environment for safety and ease, which is as simple as removing obstacles from stairs and hallways.
Assistive devices and advanced technologies are also affected in assisting communication tasks, by the use of specialized software that provides speech recognition, voice-activated typing or to simplify these daily tasks. Occupational therapist can also take the physical approach and use dexterity and therapeutic exercises in order to develop and strengthen coordination and balance, to in turn conduct daily activities (St. Catherine University 2023). Other approaches also include cognitive rehabilitation, which uses memory, attention and problem-solving exercises to stimulate the brain in order to preserve function, such as sudoku, chess and crossword puzzles (Flint Rehab 2024).
Tracking Progress: How OT Measures Success in Neuro-Rehab
Specialists can effectively measure the progress of occupational therapy within neurorehabilitation through numerous approaches and assessments. For example, periodic standardized questionnaires allow to see how the patient noted pain, difficulty or skill levels during neurorehabilitation. Occupational therapists also make use of performance- based assessments to establish standardized environments in order to measure the patient's skill level (Thera Platform). By measuring this therapy and the impact of it, professionals and the individuals themselves can see and identify the progress achieved, boosting confidence and faith in this journey, whilst also tracking data to see what can be done to improve and further this experience. The importance of trusting this gradual progress is vital, and by having patient feedback and regular re-assessments of physical, cognitive and emotional improvements allows for both parties to see the development and know they are going in the right direction.
Taking the Next Steps: Is Occupational Therapy Right for You?
Occupational therapy for neurorehabilitation involves many different patient centered approaches to encourage and enhance the patient's ability to tackle everyday activities. By use of repeated patient questionnaires and feedback, professionals can create specific interventions to maximize the use of occupational therapy within neurorehabilitation. It specifically focuses on working on the physical function of the individual, such as improving motor skills after suffering neurological conditions like a stroke. The cognitive aspect of rehabilitation, developing a person's memory and attention as when after suffering from a traumatic brain injury. Similar to other therapies, this method of healthcare can be further explored by contacting your healthcare professional or searching online clinics available to you.
References
Bresi-Ando, J. (2017). A professional’s guide to neurological occupational therapy services. The OT Practice Experts in Therapy. https://www.theotpractice.co.uk/news/our-experts-blog/a-professionals-guide-to-neurological-occupational-therapy-services
Flint Rehab. (2024). 15 Helpful Cognitive Rehabilitation Exercises to Sharpen Your Mind. https://www.flintrehab.com/cognitive-exercises-tbi/#:~:text=Chess%2C%20Sudoku%2C%20and%20Crossword%20Puzzles.%20Chess%20and,especially%20helpful%20for%20developing%20word%20recall%20skills.
St. Catherine University. (2023). 6 Common Occupational Therapy Intervention. https://otaonline.stkate.edu/blog/6-occupational-therapy-interventions/#:~:text=Common%20interventions%20occupational%20therapy%20conducts%20through%20therapeutic,interventions%20to%20be%20tailored%20to%20each%20client.
The OT Centre. (N/A). Occupational Therapy for Neurorehabilitation. Private Occupational therapy and Sensory Intergration. https://www.theotcentre.co.uk/occupational-therapy-specialisms/neurorehabilitation
Thera Platform. (N/A). Occupational therapy goals. https://www.theraplatform.com/blog/414/occupational-therapy-goals#:~:text=Measuring%20progress%20towards%20occupational%20therapy,caregiver%20to%20track%20the%20data.
WFOT. (2012). About Occupational Therapy. https://wfot.org/about/about-occupational-therapy