Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is a unique approach to rehabilitation that uses the activities of daily living to help patients and clients get back their occupational skills lost to aging, injury or a prolonged hospital stay due to illness.

We customize our approach to therapy using a comprehensive assessment of needs to know the most appropriate direction of care and administer the right intervention needed for each unique demand.

Occupational Therapy Indicators

To give you more idea about how Occupational Therapy helps, the following indicators may assist you in identifying your own or your loved one’s eligibility to receive occupational help:

Activities of Daily Living

1. Feeding Skills: not feeding self, squirrels or pockets food, decreased suck and swallowing, no lip closure, none or decreased chewing pattern, drooling is present, facial droop, unable to hold utensils or use appropriately.
2. Dressing Skills: unable to dress self secondary to orthopedic or neurological problem, not able to manage fasteners (buttons, snaps, zippers, etc.), confused on how to put on clothing.
3. Hygiene Skills: the patient is not able to wash face independently from a basin while in bed, requires assistance with oral hygiene, assistance required on/off toilet, including hygiene when using toilet, requires assistance with grooming skills.

Upper Extremity Functioning

• Unable to maintain upright sitting posture.
• Decreased upper extremity coordination – unable to use arms during bed mobility.
• No muscle control in extremities with decreased positioning
• Unable to grasp.
• Decreased muscle/tone strength in one or both extremities.
• Decreased joint mobility.
• Edema/pain upon movement, pressure in either/both extremities in combination with above upper extremity dysfunction.

Visual/Perceptual Defects

• Visual deficits present: Decreased peripheral vision, poor visual orientation, tunnel vision.
• Observations: Does patient only eat 1/2 of food on plate? Cannot locate utensils on tray? Misjudges by over or under shooting when trying to bring food to mouth? Unable to identify body parts?

Sensory Defects:

1. No response to hot or cold.
2. Unilateral neglect.
3. Unable to determine joint position without using vision.
4. Unable to discriminate touch.
5. Patient complains of numbness or tingling in extremities

Occupational therapy works by slowly reintroducing the client to the daily living tasks with increasing complexity as they complete and master one task after another. Various interventions will be done. You don’t need to worry about their welfare as they are always under close watch and supervision of our therapists, alongside other providers. Spontaneous feedbacking will also be provided to help client understand the nature of the therapy.

Occupational therapy at Oceanside Home Health Services, Inc. is concerned with:

• Home Exercise Program
• Patient Education
• Work Simplification
• Home Safety
• Pain Assessment and Management
• Upper Extremity Strength and Range of Motion
• Energy Management and Conservation
• Restoration of Sensory Functions
• Re-education of Basic Living Skills
• Restoring Muscle Control
• Basic Skills Evaluation
• Basic Level Skills Education and Training
• Device Assistance Training
• Sensory Functions Restoration
• Muscle Control Restoration and Enhancement
• Mobility Enhancement

For more information about Occupational Therapy services, questions, and other concerns, please give us a call at 323-934-5050/800-898-5551 or contact us.