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.
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.
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.
Stamps and paper stock can simulate a craft activity for patients to return to hobby crafts and creative tasks.
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.
More To Read
Graded Motor Imagery in Hand Therapy
The 3 Stages of Graded Motor Imagery We’ve all heard of mirror box therapy, but do you know the details of how it works? There’s actually 3 stages involved that exercise the brain and take advantage of its plasticity. There is a great deal of evidence supporting these three stages and you can use them…
7 Tips to Help your Patients Manage Hand Osteoarthritis
Introduction Osteoarthritis in the hands can be frustrating and debilitating. As a form of degenerative joint disease, it causes stiffness, pain, swelling, and reduced grip strength—making daily tasks like writing, opening jars, and typing feel exhausting. Fortunately, there’s a proven holistic approach centered on hand therapy for arthritic hands. This includes tailored exercises, targeted splinting,…
What is the incidence of musculoskeletal complaints in the elbow, shoulder, and neck after hand and forearm injuries?
Winiarski, L. M., Livoni, J. D., Madsen, P. V., Rathleff, M. S., & Larsen, P. (2021). Concurrent musculoskeletal complaints in elbows, shoulders, and necks after common hand and forearm injuries or conditions: A cross-sectional study among 600 patients. Journal of hand therapy: official journal of the American Society of Hand Therapists, 34(4), 543–548. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jht.2020.05.002 The Skinny: The…
Hand therapy intervention activities for Chemo-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN)
Blog Post Written By: Rita Steffes Patients with CIPN may present with symptoms that include numbness, tingling, hypersensitivity to cold, loss of tactile or vibration sensitivity, decreased balance, and shooting burning pain in their hands These symptoms make it difficult for oncology patients to participate in all activities of daily living with dressing, meal preparation,…
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.