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Occupational Therapy

The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in activities of everyday life. Whether in a patient’s hospital room or in a Howard Head Sports Medicine clinic, our occupational therapists work to achieve this goal. Acute care occupational therapists often work with patients who have strict precautions following surgery and need to adapt to complete daily activities. Therapists assist patients to increase their independence, often using adaptive equipment to complete tasks such as dressing and bathing. By providing education and training for techniques to reduce pain and improve safety, assisting functional movement through use of adaptive devices, or ergonomically modifying a patient’s environment, occupational therapists enhance their patients' ability to regain the life they knew before injury. Our occupational therapists treat adults and pediatrics, and work with cognitive and executive functioning with our speech therapists.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

What is Occupational Therapy?  
The occupations referred to in Occupational Therapy are Activities of Daily Living, or ADLs. They are activities for taking care of yourself such as bathing, dressing, toileting, and functional mobility. They allow us to engage in our daily lives, participates in our communities and are critical to our well-being.

What is the difference between PT and OT?
In the acute care setting, PT and OT often look very similar the first day, as both PT and OT have a primary goal to get you up and moving. Being able to move with reduced pain, increased safety and independence is required as a necessary first step for an OT to then focus on helping you to complete your ADLs more independently prior to discharge. A PT will focus more on your specific movement patterns necessary to navigate your discharge environment.

I just had surgery today. Why do I need to move already?
Evidence-based research has shown that mobilizing on the same day of your surgery once you have recovered is beneficial on multiple levels. It maximizes your strength and function, decreases your risk for complications - including a blood clot, pneumonia and constipation, and it can decrease your pain. 

Meet the Team