6 Reasons to Start Occupational Therapy Now
Occupational therapy is the go-to resource for people of every age, including babies, who need assistance with daily living, working or social skills. Early intervention makes a difference.
The goal of occupational therapy is to help you easily perform your activities of daily living (ADLs), so you can improve your sense of well-being. Occupational therapy focuses on fine motor skills (hands, fingers, toes), visual-perceptual skills, cognitive skills and sensory processing problems.
Occupational therapy is often enhanced by being paired with physical therapy, which targets pain reduction, gross motor skills (arms, legs, feet, body), musculoskeletal strength, mobility and fitness.
When Do You Need Occupational Therapy?
- Do you want to increase your independence? Are you having trouble with functional tasks of daily life that are appropriate for your age or life stage? If yes, occupational therapy is an important resource that can get you in the game.
- Do you want to prevent or minimize a disability? If yes, occupational therapy is a proven solution for improving your quality of life.
By developing your skill set, adapting an activity or adjusting your environment, occupational therapy can help you reach your maximum independence level.
6 Reasons to Start Occupational Therapy Now
- Occupational Therapy Makes Daily Living Easier
Work and daily tasks get easier with occupational therapy. During the assessment phase, an occupational therapist (OT) may come to your home, school or workplace to watch the way you function in your environment and suggest changes to make tasks and chores easier, such as moving furniture or using a grabber.
Occupational therapy can help you adapt the way you move, teach you how to do tasks in new ways, improve motor skills and improve hand-eye coordination.Occupational therapy also supports skill-building for social interactions.
Whether the goal is to eat without assistance from others, bathe and dress independently, do the laundry, complete office work or engage in leisure activities, occupational therapy will be an asset to your life.
- Occupational Therapy Prevents Disability
In addition to focusing on strength, coordination, and strategies for living, occupational therapy can also minimize or prevent disability by assisting with cognitive and executive functioning skills, such as memory, perception, decision-making, problem-solving and abstract reasoning.
Common health problems benefited by occupational therapy include Alzheimer’s disease, amputations, arthritis, autism, balance difficulties, birth defects, cancer, cerebral palsy, development delays, diabetes, head trauma, joint injury, learning problems, multiple sclerosis, poor eyesight, sensory processing disorders, spinal injuries and strokes.
Occupational therapy can help you acclimate to changes in speech or memory following a stroke, organize your household items or medications, build hand-eye coordination, so you can hit a tennis ball and improve motor skills, so you can grasp a pen.
- Occupational Therapy Gives You Great Adaptive Strategies
It is a real challenge to need assistance with daily activities. Occupational therapy can give you adaptive strategies to help conserve your energy and combat fatigue.
For example, cardiac disease can bring on pronounced fatigue, and energy conservation is an important strategy. In occupational therapy, you might discover a bathing-resource like a terry-cloth robe can be procured for air-drying and save the exhausting labor of towel-drying.
Occupational therapy can also give you clever ways to button a shirt, lace your shoes and safely get in and out of the shower.
- Occupational Therapy Provides Helpful Equipment
If you are struggling with a task or suffering from an injury or condition that makes it difficult to function at home, at school or in your job, occupational therapy can help you adapt to performing in each of these environments, sometimes with assistive devices.
Your occupational therapist will know the difference between a taxing moment and an easy moment can be as simple as a jar opener, a raised toilet seat or a shower chair.A jar opener increases the ability to apply torque to lids. A raised toilet seat can make sitting and standing easier for those with balance issues. Likewise,a shower chair reduces the risk of a dangerous fall while showering.
Occupational therapy focuses on getting you adaptive equipment that keeps you safe and helps you function well with less effort.
- Occupational Therapy Can Make Your Home Safe
Did you know the home is a hot spot for accidents? Occupational therapists can visit your home and advise you on specific adjustments to keep you safely aging-in-place with assistive technology, home modification and rehabilitation principles, such as those found in the Home Safety Self-Assessment Tool (HSSAT).
Adapting your home to prevent injuries can be a daunting prospect, and occupational therapy can give you support for addressing common problems, like lack of railings, unsafe steps, cracked pavement, poor lighting, unsafe flooring and carpet, cluttered areas, dangerous throw rugs, tripping hazards, unstable furniture, inadequate space for maneuvering, lack of a nightlight, lack of grab bars and slippery tubs.
A safe home makes prolonged independent living more likely.
- Occupational Therapy Trains Caregivers
Are you a caregiver for a parent or a child? Occupational therapy can take off some of the burden by offering routes to independence for the person you care for—at home, at school and at play.You’ll find their sense of achievement and well-being can also lift the emotional climate in the home.
Occupational therapy can teach you what’s possible for the person you care for, so that you can support their continued ability to self-actualize in positive ways.
Select Med1Care for Your Occupational Therapy Needs
If you or someone you care for wants occupational therapy to engage in purposeful activities with less resistance, our experienced occupational therapists can help you adapt to limitations, modify the environment, and improve motor skills to decrease pain and improve quality of life.
Med1Care Therapy Partner’s experienced occupational therapists are trained in providing personalized care. We will partner with physicians to help build unique treatment plans that improve functioning with specialized exercises and education.
Call us at 419.866.0555 to schedule a consultation.
Our specialists will help you chart a course forward.
