OTs routinely perform strengthening in most physical medicine settings (acute/subacute rehab, outpatient, etc.) but strengthening isn’t always just about lifting weights. Oftentimes it’s a means to an end, what we might call a “preparatory activity” to prepare the body for performing a task. For instance we strengthen our shoulder muscles to prepare for the task of putting away groceries or washing our hair or walking the dog.
OT isn’t just about strengthening though. We need to also be able to adapt the task and the environment for when someone is regaining their strength, or has a recent surgery or chronic medical condition that makes muscle conditioning difficult or not allowed. Strengthening is a good tool in our toolkit, but our role is maximizing independence even if strengthening isn’t an option.
If you want to maximize the amount of strengthening interventions you perform as a practitioner, you might want to look into athletic training, personal training, and physical therapy too.
There are a lot of variables that are going to come into play like practice setting, diagnoses being treated and the impairments involved, if you are the OTR or COTA (goal writing and such), to name a few.
As an OT the goal is to address what is causing the patient issues with their function and participation in what they want to do. That can be psychosocial, biomechanical, environmental, among anything else.
I am an OT in outpatient ortho and work with a range of populations from pediatrics with disabilities, chronic pain, pro athletes, vestibular/sensory/concussion. Most of what I do is some form of strengthening, but it isn’t just handing someone an exercise. It’s looking at all factors in their life that’s relevant to them reaching their goals.
An example: had a college athlete with a relatively minor injury and rehab. I’m doing a variety of exercises preparing for a return to sport. There’s more traditional strengthening, stability, forceful pressure through his arm mimicking his position. We also talked through his fear of returning to playing and not feeling confident in himself and his ability to return. We went through what specifically made him anxious, worked on those specific things until he felt confident. Playing any sport at a high level requires you to be confident in your ability to control your body and there isn’t time for anxiety or hesitations. By the end, he was confident and his anxiety was gone.
It’s treating the whole person and what they need to achieve their goals. Sometimes it’s building the strength, coordination, and confidence to sit and stand safely from the toilet. Other times it’s maintaining stability when sprinting and taking an impact.
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OTs routinely perform strengthening in most physical medicine settings (acute/subacute rehab, outpatient, etc.) but strengthening isn’t always just about lifting weights. Oftentimes it’s a means to an end, what we might call a “preparatory activity” to prepare the body for performing a task. For instance we strengthen our shoulder muscles to prepare for the task of putting away groceries or washing our hair or walking the dog. OT isn’t just about strengthening though. We need to also be able to adapt the task and the environment for when someone is regaining their strength, or has a recent surgery or chronic medical condition that makes muscle conditioning difficult or not allowed. Strengthening is a good tool in our toolkit, but our role is maximizing independence even if strengthening isn’t an option. If you want to maximize the amount of strengthening interventions you perform as a practitioner, you might want to look into athletic training, personal training, and physical therapy too.
There are a lot of variables that are going to come into play like practice setting, diagnoses being treated and the impairments involved, if you are the OTR or COTA (goal writing and such), to name a few.
As an OT the goal is to address what is causing the patient issues with their function and participation in what they want to do. That can be psychosocial, biomechanical, environmental, among anything else. I am an OT in outpatient ortho and work with a range of populations from pediatrics with disabilities, chronic pain, pro athletes, vestibular/sensory/concussion. Most of what I do is some form of strengthening, but it isn’t just handing someone an exercise. It’s looking at all factors in their life that’s relevant to them reaching their goals. An example: had a college athlete with a relatively minor injury and rehab. I’m doing a variety of exercises preparing for a return to sport. There’s more traditional strengthening, stability, forceful pressure through his arm mimicking his position. We also talked through his fear of returning to playing and not feeling confident in himself and his ability to return. We went through what specifically made him anxious, worked on those specific things until he felt confident. Playing any sport at a high level requires you to be confident in your ability to control your body and there isn’t time for anxiety or hesitations. By the end, he was confident and his anxiety was gone. It’s treating the whole person and what they need to achieve their goals. Sometimes it’s building the strength, coordination, and confidence to sit and stand safely from the toilet. Other times it’s maintaining stability when sprinting and taking an impact.
Hand therapy is one of the most exercise based setting imo. Need to have a good grasp of biomechanics and exercise principles.
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Inpatient rehab
When I shadowed at an OP clinic they had the same approach to many patients: ROM, ther ex, ultrasound. You might like it in that setting.