Occupational Therapy – Returning You to a Normal Life

If you have a need to utilize the services of an occupational therapist then there are a lot of things you should know. First and foremost, occupational therapists are dedicated to helping you get your life back. They desire to work with you to help you get the skills to help you do as many of your prior activities as possible.

In order to fully understand the role of an occupational therapist, it is important to understand the nature of their work and how they become qualified for their roles. These are truly some very dedicated professionals. Here are some facts regarding an experienced occupational therapist:

Occupational therapists have a lot of training and work in a variety of settings.

Occupational therapists are professional men and women who must have at least a master’s degree and many of them might even possess a doctorate. They have the option of attending 324 different colleges in the United States. Once they are out in the working field, they could work in a number of different areas, including hospitals, schools, rehabilitation centers, assisted living organizations and even mental health clinics. This just goes to show you that occupational therapy is a field that is truly in demand.

Occupational therapy is an important component of the recovery process.

When people think of occupational therapy, they generally think of an individual that is working with someone to get them ready for working or something of that nature. However, the “occupational” part of an OT’s job simply means they are working with the patient to help them go back to doing the things they enjoy or the things they want to do.

Occupational therapy is also concerned with helping you with “activities of daily living.”

Although “activities of daily living” can seem like a very fancy term, it actually just means the things you do each day. The activity of typing this article on a keyboard could be classified as such. However, it gets more specific than that. Activities of daily living also include such things as driving, taking a shower, brushing your teeth, paying your bills, walking your dog and a number of other things. The best way to sum it is that these activities of daily living are pretty much everything you do on a daily basis. If you are having difficulty doing all of these daily activities, then chances are you would benefit from the dedication of an occupational therapist.

Occupational therapists will generally try to help you with these “activities of daily living” after you have suffered what is called a “medical event.”

One of the reasons occupational therapists work in assisted living organizations, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers is because of the fact that a lot of them have suffered what is called a “medical event.” An event of type can be anything that causes you to not be able to do all of the things you used to be able to do. In some cases, a “medical event” can be truly life-altering, and can even force you to have to relearn how to read, how to tie your shoes, how to do household chores or even how to talk, among other things. This is one of the main reasons why an occupational therapy will often work with individuals who have been in a devastating car accident, those who have had a stroke or heart attack, or those who have had other types of accidents.

Occupational therapists are much different than physical therapists.

There are some individuals who think that occupational therapists are not that much different than physical therapists, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. First of all, physical therapists are generally concerned with utilizing exercise just to help those who want to have better health and more mobility. On the other hand, an occupational therapist will utilize exercise and range of motion to help their patients achieve functional goals. In a nutshell, the main difference between an occupational therapist and a physical therapist is that an OT is trying to help a patient restore their lifestyle.

Conclusion

At Maplewood Sauk Prairie, there is one thing you can count on when it comes to our occupational therapists: they will work with you by taking a holistic approach. They will seek to give you an individualized patient evaluation, a customized treatment program, and recommendations of various adaptive tools that you can use for a better quality of life. If you have a need for the services of an occupational therapist, you can trust the dedicated professionals affiliated with Maplewood Sauk Prairie.