Occupational Therapy and Spinal Cord Injury

According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, there are 17,000 new cases of spinal cord injury every year ("Facts and Figures", 2018). Occupational Therapy addresses a variety of treatment objectives with spinal cord injury including:

• Maintain or increase joint range of motion and prevent deformity via range of motion exercises, splinting, and positioning.

• Increase strength in working or partially working muscles.

• Increase physical endurance.

• Maximize independence in areas of occupation such as self -care tasks of hygiene, dressing, home management and community participation.

• Explore leisure and vocational interests.

• Aid in psychosocial adjustment.

• Assess and train in use of adaptive and durable medical equipment.

• Home and environmental accessibility, such as using smart technology or help learning to drive a car employing vehicle modifications.

• Developing appropriate communicate skills for caregiver training such training in the use of an electronic voice device.

• Patient and family education regarding long-term function and impact of aging.

Facts and Figures. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.nscisc.uab.edu/Public/Facts%20and%20Figures%20-%202018.pdf

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