HEALTHY AND ACTIVE | How occupational therapy can help you

ASHT member Aaron Shaw recently wrote a column for the Madison Park Times, celebrating occupational therapy during National Occupational Therapy Month, and spotlighting hand therapy.

HEALTHY AND ACTIVE | How occupational therapy can help you
By Aaron Shaw, Columnist
Friday, April 29, 2016 11:43 AM

The American Occupational Therapy Association celebrated Occupational Therapy (OT) Month in April.

OT is a nearly 100-year-old, evidence-based profession deeply rooted in science. Despite there being more than 213,000 occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants and students nationwide, many people do not know what OT is all about. You may be surprised to know the person sitting next to you at Madrona Park had an OT teach him energy-conservation techniques after a heart attack.

Occupational therapy is the only profession that helps people across the lifespan to do the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities (occupations). With a holistic perspective, we don’t ask, “What’s the matter with you?”; instead, we ask, “What matters to you?”

To some people the answer to that question could be something as seemingly simple as placing a lunch order at Madison Kitchen. For someone recovering from a traumatic brain injury, the cognitive skills involved with that task can be overwhelming. Someone wearing an arm cast or brace from a fractured bone will need to know adaptive techniques to safely manage their shopping at Bert’s Red Apple. These are some of the many daily activities OTs help people successfully participate in.

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