Occupation Based Interventions in Hand Therapy

Keeping Occupation Based Interventions in Hand Therapy

By: Tristany Hightower

Are your treatments occupation based? Do you tailor your activity choices to fit the needs of each patient? As occupational therapists, we should be specialists in creating goals and interventions that are directed at returning our patients to meaningful occupations. 

Too often, hand therapy can reduce to simple exercises to address the base components of strength, range of motion, sensation, etc. But, without consideration of the end occupational needs of the patient.

Occupations based therapy can include many options that are either readily available in the clinic or easy to acquire.

Buttons can be used to prepare for a return to independent dressing and fine motor coordination.

occupation based

Nuts and bolts from the hardware store will help a mechanic return to coordination and, when used with vision occluded, will improve stereognosis.

Using cooking tools like a spatula or rolling pin will improve IADL return and improve motivation for recovery and HEP activities.

occupation based

Connectors and pipe lengths of PVC can be a fun assembly task for grasp strength and return to work-related tasks.

A 2×6 board with predrilled holes can be used to help a carpenter return to managing power and hand tool to put screws into the holes. 

occupation based

Stamps and paper stock can simulate a craft activity for patients to return to hobby crafts and creative tasks.

occupation based

As OTs and hand therapists, your patients will be much more invested in their care and goals if their care plan focuses on their meaningful occupations.  Include an occupational profile in your evaluations, get to know their work, recreation, and family-based priorities, and shape your activities to reflect the patient’s occupation-based goals.

Leave a Comment






More To Read

A Fun Fact from a Hand Therapy Student

January 18, 2020

By: Ammie Ingwaldson Level 2 Fieldwork at a hand therapy clinic is a fast paced and continuous learning experience. The perfect example of this occurred last week while observing a therapist provide a client with their home CMC arthritis program.  The therapist was educating the client on how to oppose their thumb to their small…

Read More

A randomized clinical trial comparing early active motion programs: Earlier hand function, TAM, and orthotic satisfaction with a relative motion extension program for zones V and VI extensor tendon repairs

October 11, 2020

By Brittany Day Collocott SJ, Kelly E, Foster M, Myhr H, Wang A, Ellis RF. A randomized clinical trial comparing early active motion programs: Earlier hand function, TAM, and orthotic satisfaction with a relative motion extension program for zones V and VI extensor tendon repairs. Journal of Hand Therapy. 2019. doi:10.1016/j.jht.2018.10.003 The Skinny-  This is…

Read More

Covid-19: What is your clinic doing?

March 16, 2020

It’s what every patient is talking about when they come in? With the suspension of every major sport, international travel banned, and hospital quarantines, everyone wants to know what their own therapists are doing to address the problem.  I’m a small business owner and therapist. That means I really have 3 priorities.     1: Protect my…

Read More

Do you know the secret ingredient to recovering from an injury?

July 14, 2019

Do you know the secret ingredient to recovering from an injury? I will give you a hint it is 5 letters and begins with the letter S.     SLEEP Have you ever asked yourself a question – does sleep help injuries heal? This is for you to share with your patients but also serve as a…

Read More
Envelope_1

Sign-up to Get Updates Straight to Your Inbox!

Sign up with us and we will send you regular blog posts on everything hand therapy, notices every time we upload new videos and tutorials, along with handout, protocols, and other useful information.