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3 Reasons To Work With An Occupational Therapist After Sustaining A Serious Injury

If you're severely injured and can't do a lot of important daily activities, you may need to get help from an occupational therapist. This specialist can help you get back to a life you once knew by providing the following services.  

1. Improve Movement Through Exercise Routines  

When your injury affects your movement, it's important to make your body work so that you can build up your muscles and get your nerves active again. An occupational therapist can recommend specific exercises that target your condition and help you resume an active lifestyle. 

A lot of these exercises are tailored around building up your strength. Every day, you'll see gradual improvements. Your occupational therapist will monitor your progress and make adjustments if they see certain exercise routines having minimal effects. Balance re-training is also an important focus your occupational therapist will help you with. It's designed to give you back a normal range of motion.

2. Recommend Home Adjustments 

There will be times when your home environment is not properly set up to account for your physical injury. Getting around may then be quite difficult, causing you a lot of stress when trying to do fairly simple tasks.

An occupational therapist can assess your home environment and recommend particular adjustments that improve your standard of living, at least until you make a full recovery. For example, your therapist may recommend putting up ramps in place of stairs. This way, you don't have to struggle as much when going up elevated structures. 

3. Demonstrate How to Use Medical Devices 

If you've never had a serious injury before, using certain medical equipment may prove difficult. That's completely okay because your occupational therapist can show you how to use these various medical devices that aid in your movement. 

Say you need to use a powered scooter. Your occupational therapist can show you many important operational tips, such as how to get in and out of the scooter safely and how to change the different settings. Or if you're required to use crutches, the therapist can walk you through the appropriate hand placements so that you're fully supported.

Even though you may be dealing with a life-changing injury, there is hope for recovery. You just need to remain proactive and consider working with an occupational therapist. They can help you get through this difficult time using their experience and knowledge. Let them be your guide during this difficult time. 

For more information, contact a medical office like Levi Hospital.


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