From gripping your toothbrush to climbing stairs to getting in and out of the car - chronic pain throws multiple challenges in everyday lives. It limits our work and leisure activities and causes a decline in mental health. A survey found that about one in five, or nearly 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain and seek healthcare services.
Occupational therapy (OT) can be a rescuer for them. With occupational therapy, you can maximize your ability to perform nearly any regular activity. In this blog, you’ll gain an in-depth understanding of how occupational therapy can be a miracle for your pain management journey. But first, we'll discuss what occupational therapy is all about.
What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy (OT) in chronic pain management is a type of health care that enables people, irrespective of age, to participate in the activities of everyday life, which include,
● Self-maintenance: getting dressed, eating, moving around the house
● Being efficacious - going to work or school, participating in the extra-curricular activities
● Leisure activities - sports, gardening, social activities.
Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they want or need to do. Further, they modify the occupation or the environment to better support people’s occupational engagement.
How Can Occupational Therapy be a Soothing Pain Reliever?
By helping patients to store their potential to perform regular tasks as independently as possible, occupational therapy in the pain management process works like magic. When a person experiences difficulties in performing daily activities, occupational therapy supports them with the following advantages:
● Improves Muscle Strength for Motion
Patients, who go through surgery, arthritis, or stroke are more likely to suffer from chronic or joint pain. Occupational therapists heal their pain and improve muscle movement by practicing techniques like the passive range of motion, active range of motion, body positioning, and compensatory prevention techniques.
Using the passive range of motion, therapists activate small joint-related movements, while in the active range of motion, therapists focus on arms and other joint-related movements. Body positioning is about lying down on the back or side to support the return of independent function with a full range of motion. To avoid loss of strength and enable movements while building strength, therapists use compensatory prevention techniques. Though each technique is unique in respect of functionalities and performance, smoothening the pain management process is occupational therapists' prime focus.
● Recover Mental Health Problems
Usually, patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder, dementia, psychoses, depression, and developmental issues like autism are distressed. Their conditions are terrifying, and they face multiple difficulties to cope with in daily life.
Occupational therapy aims to help these patients to deal with the effects of mental illness, low self-esteem, isolation, and loss of motivation. By encouraging them to perform their daily chores independently, occupational therapy cultivates self-confidence in patients and helps them to return to their original life.
● Promote Self-Management
Self-management is the individual’s ability to successfully manage the symptoms, treatment, and physical and mental consequences caused by chronic disease. It’s a profitable approach to pain management of chronic health conditions.
The client-centered occupational therapy is an excellent key to promoting self-management. Depending on the patient’s situation (whether he/she is newly diagnosed or has a history of chronic disease), the occupational therapist helps patients to manage the disease while improving their daily lives.
Using techniques like the passive range of motion, active range of motion, body positioning, and compensatory prevention, occupational therapists enhance patients’ abilities to maintain their health and well-being.
How Does Occupational Therapists’ Pain Management Process Work?
To perform the occupational therapy process on clients, occupational therapists (OTs) understand clients’ medical histories and then look for innovative solutions. They work closely with each client to understand their daily life challenges, and then accordingly, they incorporate strategies into their daily routines.
Occupational therapists identify that each individual is different with their unique life situation. Depending on their history, daily chores, and problems, occupation therapists design a treatment plan that addresses clients’ chronic pain problems, enhances their lifestyle, and helps them to live independently.
Reap the Benefits of Occupational Therapy for Successful Chronic Pain Management
Anger, depression, feeling of dependency, and anxiety – all are the challenges associated with chronic pain. And occupational therapists understand this perfectly. They empower individuals with chronic health situations to engage with their daily routines and encourage them to live their lives to their fullest.
