Six Health Issues Aided by Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is a form of care where you learn to handle daily routines and normal activities after an accident or illness impacts your mobility, fine motor skills, or endurance. Here are six health issues where occupational therapy makes a difference.
Management of Daily Tasks After a Stroke
Strokes can leave a person without the use of an arm, leg, or hand on one side of the body. The facial expressions on half of the face won’t work, which impacts the ability to speak and even swallow. It can make it hard to get to the bathroom on time, increasing the chances of incontinence or accidents.
A stroke can leave a person with lapses in memory, vision impairment, and hearing loss. Which side of the body is impacted is determined by where the stroke occurred.
- Right Hemisphere: Paralysis on the left side of the body, issues with depth perception and vision on the left side, depression, memory problems, behavioral changes, and inability to recall where items are or find them.
- Left Hemisphere: Problems with speech and language, paralysis on the right side of the body, memory problems, inability to write or read, difficulty seeing things with the right eye, increased anxiety, and depression.
- Cerebellum: Increase in headaches, dizziness, lack of coordination, balance issues, nausea, and vomiting.
Occupational therapy can help find ways to communicate problems and needs when speech, writing, and hand movements are difficult. It also helps patients find ways to get dressed when movements are impacted, move around the home in a wheelchair or walker, and heighten safety throughout the day.
Maintaining Independence For as Long as Possible With Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s is a slow, progressive loss of cognitive skills and memory. Occupational therapy helps with the process of telling others what’s needed when communicating is challenging due to loss of words or speech.
Occupational therapists can help a person with Alzheimer’s maintain grooming and hygiene tasks as physical abilities or the ability to reach change. It may require the use of relabeling products like shampoo and conditioner to make them simple to understand with bold, single words.
Dealing With the Effects of Cancer Treatments
Cancer treatments like chemo and radiation can leave a patient feeling weak and nauseous. Dizziness and balance issues are problems. An occupational therapist can help with home safety and the tools needed to do simple things like shower safely, move from one room to the next with the support of a walker, etc.
Learning How to Use a Walker After Hip Surgery
After hip surgery, it takes weeks and even months to gain most of your mobility back. Your dad’s going to rely on a walker or cane to get around his home. He needs to learn how to use them. His home needs to be evaluated and adjusted to make it safer for him. He’ll also need to learn how to take a shower and get dressed without risking another fall.
Getting Around Your Home With Vision Loss
Your dad’s vision loss doesn’t mean he needs to move. It’s ideal to keep him in a home where he knows the layout well. His occupational therapist can help him learn how to count steps to get from one area to the next, how to use a white cane to identify obstacles when walking, and how to complete daily routines without risking his safety.
Navigating Your Daily Routine When You Can’t Hear
Hearing loss is common as you age, and it makes it hard to do simple things like answering a ringing phone, hearing a doorbell, or addressing someone who is calling your name.
An occupational therapist can help families understand how to communicate through visual motions, flashing lights on doorbells and phones, and navigating things like stores or businesses when hearing loss is present.
That’s how an occupational therapist can help. Now, it’s time to get started. Talk to your dad’s doctor about his health and needs going forward. Once you have that information, schedule occupational therapy appointments that match what the doctor recommended.
If you or an aging loved one are considering occupational therapy in Broomall, PA please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
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