Occupational therapy is a form of rehabilitation that's focused on activities of daily life. If you're struggling with tasks such as cooking, cleaning, getting dressed or typing due to an illness or injury, an occupational therapist can be a vital ally. At the Sports & Therapy Center at Great Plains Health, we have an entire occupational therapy team ready to offer support.
How occupational therapy can help
The goal of an occupational therapy program is to help you fully participate in activities of daily living both at home and at work.
Our occupational therapists will meet with you to understand how your health condition affects your ability to complete these tasks. Then, our team will work with you to develop a program that makes your goals easier to achieve.
Occupational therapies we offer
Our occupational therapists have a number of treatments and therapies they might use as part of your rehabilitation program. They might offer you:
- Cognitive therapy. This solution-focused form of psychotherapy can help you change your thinking and emotional responses, which could help you focus on problem-solving and learning skills.
- Customized splinting. A splint helps immobilize painful body parts, so it's easier for you to move.
- Driving therapy. This form of therapy is designed to help you remain safe behind the wheel. Your therapist might offer adaptive devices for your car, or you might focus on boosting muscle strength, joint flexibility and fast reflexes through exercise.
- Electrical stimulation. Pain and swelling are addressed through this form of therapy. Under the supervision of your therapist, tiny bursts of electricity are pulsed through affected areas.
- Functional capacity evaluations. These evaluations can help you understand your current abilities.
- Iontophoresis. Frequent, distressing sweating of the hands or feet is the target of this form of therapy. It involves a combination of electrical current and a tiny bit of water, which can entice overactive sweat glands to return to a normal level of function.
- Lymphedema therapy. Our team uses massage, bandages, skin care and exercise to help ease the swelling caused by lymphedema.
- Neuro-developmental treatment therapy. Movement disorders caused by diseases such as cerebral palsy are addressed with this form of therapy. Your occupational therapist will use exercise to help you develop a smoother way to move.
- Phonophoresis. This treatment uses ultrasound to push medications deeper into your tissues to help address swelling, pain and other soft-tissue injury symptoms.
- Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation therapy. This form of therapy blends muscle stretching and muscle contraction to help improve range of motion.
- SaeboFlex splinting. This treatment can help improve your control over your hands and fingers, and it may be especially useful in the aftermath of a stroke, head injury or other neurological injury.
- Ultrasound. Pain and stiffness can be addressed through pulsed sound waves that are produced by an ultrasound machine. Higher doses of ultrasound can also help to break up scar tissue.
- Visual perceptual rehabilitation. Double vision, partial vision or impaired vision can impact your ability to perform everyday tasks. In this form of therapy, activities such as mazes, trail making or compensatory scanning strategies help you learn to adjust to the changes.
Our occupational therapy team
Our team works within the Sports & Therapy Center, and all of our therapists have access to the equipment in the modern center, including a pool and multiple exercise machines.
We also have specialized expertise on staff, including a therapist who is certified in hand therapy.
If your wrists and fingers are the cause of your difficulties, our hand therapist can provide key support you might not find anywhere else.
Contact us
We'll need a referral from your doctor in order to begin your occupational therapy program. To make an appointment with our team or to ask questions about the program, call 308.568.7456.