Can Occupational Therapy Help?

Occupational therapy is a form of healthcare. Occupational therapists provide many treatments, services, and facilities to help patients recover from illnesses and injuries. They can be crucial for an unwell person’s recovery and even help them to adjust to a new health condition. It can be nerve-wracking to explore a new form of healthcare. However, you might see the value in occupational therapy for these reasons:

Developing Treatment Plans

Everyone’s recovery journey looks different after an injury or illness. You might explore occupational therapy services when you learn that trained therapists can create a treatment plan unique to your needs.

They can identify any strengths, weaknesses, and challenges you face. They can also devise activities and treatment types that might allow for improvements. Depending on your therapist’s assessment, this process can also pave the way for access to other necessary support services.

Improving Your Motor Skills

Many injuries and illnesses, like TBI and stroke, can affect your motor skills. You might struggle with hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and walking. It can sometimes seem like you’ll never gain these back, but occupational therapy might make a difference.

With the right therapy types, you might enjoy improvements to help you maximize life enjoyment and independence. Everyone is different, which means that progress can also be different. Some people experience significant improvements in a short space of time, while others can require extended therapy for small but meaningful changes.

Achieving Basic Self Care Independence

Certain injuries and illnesses can be disabling, making it hard for people to do simple tasks like bathing, dressing, and eating. While those skills can return with time and healing, occupational therapists may speed up the process. They’re skilled in therapies, exercises, and tools people need to resume daily living activities as quickly as possible.

Helping to Adapt Your Environment

The same environments you’ve lived in forever may no longer be suitable after an accident or illness. For example, wheelchair users may find navigating their homes more challenging. They might also struggle with maintaining home cleanliness when they had no problems with it before.

Therapists can suggest changes to improve your environment after learning what you need. One possible change could be adding a ramp to make your home wheelchair accessible. Another change could be using a shower chair to make bathing easier. Therapists might also suggest assistive tools like head wands, mouth sticks, and crutches.

Providing Cognitive Rehab

Cognitive challenges are often associated with illnesses and injuries like traumatic brain injuries and stroke. You might have problems with your memory, problem-solving, and mental processing. There are no guarantees that cognitive function will return to normal. However, occupational therapy might help you enjoy improvements.  

Therapists can explore many strategies, like restorative and compensatory therapy. These are normally offered throughout various treatment stages like education, process training, strategy training, and functional activities training. With cognitive rehab, you might find it easier to process and interpret information, maintain relationships, work, and participate in your local community.

Occupational therapy can seem scary. This is especially true when you’ve never used such a service before. However, there’s potential for you or your loved one living with an illness or injury to greatly benefit from this healthcare option.