While Physiotherapists work to improve mobility and alleviate pain, Occupational Therapists help individuals perform better, their daily functional activities and improve life skills. They help patients overcome physical challenges and help them return to an independent home life.
They teach self-care skills including homemaking, cooking, eating, dressing and grooming and aid in emotional and social adjustment following injury or illness.
For an injured or disabled senior, working on successfully adapting to physical limitations due to age, injury or disease is just as important as working on physical recovery. This enables them to live as an independent senior citizen for as long as possible. Indicative list of conditions, therapies and interventions are given below:
Fall Prevention
Fear of falling can be both a risk factor for falls and a consequence of falling. To assist older adults overcome their fear of falling, prevent falls, and remain independent as long as possible, some of the interventions are as follows:
• Lower limb balance and strength exercises
• Coping with visual loss
• Medication management
• Environmental and behavioural home safety
• Improving self-confidence to avoid falls
• Encouraging behavioural changes to meet the goal of reducing falls
Dementia Management
In cases of Dementia, Occupational Therapists are a valuable resource. The illness affects memory, the ability to communicate, along with the ability to perform activities of daily living, such as eating and independently using the toilet. In such cases, the Occupational Therapist can:
• Guide a person with dementia to make lists and use other prompts to aid recall.
• Simplify activities and provide sensory stimulation.
• Recommend foods with pleasing texture, soothing music or suggest a stretching program to eliminate pain.
• Carry out psychoeducation sessions with caregivers about how to interact with and support their loved ones.
SanctusHealthcare offers 24 x 7 supervised residential care with an excellent physiotherapy and occupational therapy team for all the above conditions. At our centre, we have a fully equipped physiotherapy centre and a gym to help patients. We offer short term and long-term physiotherapy/occupational therapy plans.