April is Occupational Therapy Month
Every April, we celebrate Occupational Therapy Month to honor this vital profession and the meaningful differences it makes in the lives of our patients.
Occupational therapy is a science-driven, evidence-based profession that uses everyday life activities (occupations) to promote health, well-being, and the ability to participate in important activities in your life. This is accomplished by designing strategies for everyday living and customizing environments to develop and maximize potential.
By taking the full picture into account—a person’s psychological, physical, emotional, and social make-up—occupational therapy assists people in:
- Achieving their goals
- Functioning at the highest possible level
- Concentrating on what matters most to them
- Maintaining or rebuilding their independence
- Participating in the everyday activities that they need to do or that simply make life worth living
Occupational therapists are experts in helping people perform the occupations (daily tasks) they need and want to do every day.
Orthopedic & Spine Therapy offers Occupational Therapy at our Appleton office with a practice focus including:
Fall prevention – being aware of fall risks and mitigating those factors
Balance – activities you can do to strengthen your balance skills and stability
Healthy aging – Optimizing your daily choices to support a strong mind and body at any age
Increase function in daily activities – Our household and daily activities provide us with meaning and purpose as well as movement during the day – consider how to still do as much as possible for yourself while keeping in mind safety.
Exercise – build movement into your day and intentionally challenge your balance and strength
Home safety – Remove tripping hazards, install support bars, keep frequent items in reach
The goal of OT is to assist you on your path to healing, improve quality of life, increase independence, and create a plan to intentionally optimize your function both in mind and body.
Every second of every day an older adult falls leading to injury, loss of independence, and even death. Many falls can be prevented. Learn what you can do to prevent falls, make your home safer, improve your balance, and strengthen your body to stay safe and as independent as possible as long as possible. OST offers free quarterly balance screenings open to the public with the next balance event on Wednesday, May 1st between 9-3:30. Call to reserve your
30-minute screening appointment.
In the meantime, our website offers a fall prevention self-assessment tool that you can utilize to assess your fall risk.
You can request an appointment or consultation with our Occupational Therapist, Cathy Borek, by calling the Appleton office at 920-968-0814.
We look forward to working with you and your doctor to continue to advance your health, well-being, and quality of life!
References:
AOTA.org
STEADI Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths and Injuries
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
National Institute on Aging