Occupational Therapy Month

Many people understand what physical therapy is, but occupational therapy needs to be more widely understood. Occupational Therapy (OT) is a process that involves helping people of all ages develop, maintain, or recover the skills they need to do daily activities. The daily activities we know and enjoy may become more difficult as we age. Occupational therapists also educate and work with the patient's support team to ensure everyone understands their role.​

What an OT can do to help the senior population:​

Overcome Struggles in Daily Activities

For seniors, partaking in normal daily activities such as walking, eating, dressing, etc., can become a large and exhausting task. When these daily tasks become frustrating, seniors may lose the inclination to participate in social gatherings, family outings, or hobbies, causing an increased feeling of depression and loneliness.

OT helps seniors find ways to make these tasks easier by restoring function, identifying compensation techniques, or adapting to the environment. OT helps patients improve their fine and basic motor skills, strength, range of motion, and dexterity. Even small improvements in these areas can make all the difference in completing everyday tasks.

Prevent Falls

Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury in older adults, so OTs focus on fall prevention with seniors. OTs work on restoring balance and building skeletal muscle mass, which can help keep their bodies strong and alert and decrease the risk of falls. Some seniors may stop doing the activities they enjoy because they fear falling, so learning methods to prevent falls can help them feel more confident and comfortable.

Cognition

OTs can assess and evaluate cognition and create a plan to enhance strengths and improve weaknesses. OT can help improve memory and make coping with memory loss a bit easier by:

• Engaging in memory-enhancing activities
• Adapting the environment to prevent wandering or injury
• Teach caregivers compensation techniques

Stroke Recovery

Strokes can cause complications involving vision, balance, speech and cognition, and partial paralysis. OT can help with these complications, and OTs can help stroke patients in multiple ways:

• Teaching patients one-handed techniques for opening packages, cooking, dressing, eating, etc.
• Providing equipment to help with activities of daily living
• Recommending adaptations for daily activities
• Treating swallowing difficulties