Occupational Therapy focuses on facilitating a patient's return to activities that are meaningful and important to in their daily life — often referred to as "occupations" or "activities of daily living" (ADLs).
Occupational Therapists help patients develop, recover, improve and maintain the skills needed for day-to-day living. Their goal is to help clients perform personal responsibilities, self-care and workplace tasks as independently as possible.
Often Occupational Therapy is combined with other types of therapy. For example, for a stroke patient who has poor use of their upper extremity and lower extremity, an Occupational Therapist would treat the upper extremity and a Physical Therapist would treat the lower extremity. Occupational Therapy goals for such a patient would include upper extremity movement, strength, coordination, and improve function of the upper extremity needed for daily activities.
Among all age groups, the scope of Occupational Therapy at Marshall Medical Centers includes treatment for patients who have had or are recovering from:
- Carpal Tunnel and Wrist Fractures
- Various hand and wrist surgeries
- Hand fractures
- Trigger finger
- Dupuytren's Contracture
- Elbow fractures
- Elbow and wrist tendonitis
- Ulnar nerve transpositions
- Shoulder injuries: humerus fractures, frozen shoulder, and impingement
- Strokes
- Spinal cord injuries
- Parkinson's
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Brain injuries