Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is Ocupational Therapy ?

The "Practice of Occupational Therapy" means the therapeutic use of purposeful and meaningful occupations (goal-directed activities) to evaluate and treat individuals who have a disease or disorder; impairment, activity limitation or participation restriction that interferes with their ability to function independently in daily life roles and to promote health and wellness. Occupational therapy intervention may include:

• Remediation or restoration of performance abilities that are limited due to impairment in biological, hysiological, psychological or neurological processes
• Adaptation of task, process, or the environment or the teaching of compensatory techniques in order to enhance performance
• Disability prevention methods and techniques that facilitate the development or safe application of performance skills
• Health promotion strategies and practices that enhance performance abilities

"Occupational therapy services" include, but are not limited to:

• Evaluating, developing, improving, sustaining, or restoring skills in activities of daily living (ADL), work or productive activities, including instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and play and leisure activities.
• Evaluating, developing, remediating, or restoring sensorymotor, cognitive, or psychosocial components of performance.
• Designing, fabricating, applying, or training in the use of assistive technology or orthotic devices and training in the use of prosthetic devices.
• Adapting environments and processes, including the application of ergonomic principles, to enhance performance and safety in daily life roles.
• Applying physical agent modalities as an adjunct to or in preparation for engagement in occupations.
• Evaluating and providing intervention in collaboration with the client, family, caregiver or others.
• Educating the client, family, caregivers or others in carrying out appropriate non-skilled interventions.
• Consulting with groups, programs, organizations, or communities to provide population based services.

What does an occupational therapist do?

An occupational therapist aims to maximise the childs independence in every day activities, such as feeding, dressing, toileting play and writing. She or he plays particular attention to hand and eye co- ordination perception and manipulative skills and how to develop these in order that the child reaches its full potential. On referral a full assessment of the child is carried out with the help of information from the child's family, to determine the child's developmental level and to identify any specific problem areas, a plan of treatment is then formed and discussed with the family and teachers if the child attends school.

The treatment maybe carried out in the department at home or in local schools both special and mainstream. The occupational therapist may also give advice on and provide appropriate equipment to help the child cope with daily activities. She is particularly concerned with providing the seating necessary to obtain the correct position for the individual child, if required she will visit the child's home and liase with social services department to advise on any adaptations to the home that maybe needed.

What is Hydrotherapy ?

Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy, is probably the oldest form of medical treatment. It involves the use of water for soothing pains and treating diseases. Its use has been recorded as early as ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations. Egyptian royalty bathed with essential oils and flowers, while Romans had communal public baths for their citizens. It has been long accepted that hot water springs can improve health by increasing circulation. Hippocrates prescribed bathing in spring water for sickness. A Dominican monk, Sebastian Kneipp again revived it, during the 19th century. His book My Water Cure in 1889 was published and translated into many languages. Today, hydrotherapy is utilised in treating arthritis, burns, musculoskeletal disorders as well as for stroke patients with paralysis. The scientific evidence does not always support claims of effectiveness for this treatment.

What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

A Hyperbaric chambers are used for a mode of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes 100% oxygen at pressures greater than normal atmospheric (sea level) pressure