Occupational therapists at CentraState help people of all ages to improve function, independence, and quality of life, prevent disability, and promote health and wellness. Working with you to help you successfully perform activities of daily living, our occupational therapists treat people with a wide variety of conditions and abilities. They follow a customized treatment plan with one-on-one sessions with each patient.
CONDITIONS WE TREAT
TREATMENTS
Customized Plans
The process of occupational therapy starts with a comprehensive assessment and evaluation. Following the evaluation, our therapists work with you to establish customized treatment plans and goals that are designed to help improve your ability to perform activities of daily living, tasks, and self-care, such as:
- Dressing
- Bathing
- Grooming
- Feeding/Eating
- Home management tasks like cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, and money skills
- Work-related tasks
- Handwriting/typing
- Grasping and lifting common household items
- Manipulation of small objects like keys, buttons, zippers, and opening containers
- Gripping, pushing, and pulling
Advanced Techniques
As part of occupational therapy treatment, we offer:
- Saebo: award-winning stroke rehabilitation technology
- Music Glove: Clinically proven to increase hand function
- T-Wall: Interactive mobility, reaction, and coordination training
- Custom fabricated splinting to improve hand function
HAND THERAPY
Whether due to an acute injury or chronic overuse, painful hand and upper extremity conditions can affect your work, your hobbies, and your life. Hand therapy at CentraState treats injuries and conditions of the hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder—relieving pain and restoring mobility. Treatment is typically provided by an occupational therapist.
Hand therapy is extremely specialized because few structures are as unique as the hand, with its 27 bones and multiple joints and ligaments. Our hand therapists develop individualized treatment plans for specific rehabilitation and therapy needs.
At CentraState’s OceanFirst Rehabilitation Center, our therapists treat many of conditions affecting the arms and hands, including:
- Problems resulting from an accident or injury, such as wounds, scars, burns, frostbite, injured tendons or nerves, fractures, or even amputations
- Repetitive-type disorders, such as tennis elbow or carpal tunnel syndrome
- Arthritic conditions and neurological conditions affecting the arms or hands
Following a thorough examination, our therapists develop an individualized treatment plan, which may include:
- Customized splint fabrication
- Wound care
- Range of motion and strengthening exercises
- Control of swelling
- Moist heat and cold therapy
- Neuromuscular re-education
- Ultrasound, cold laser, and electrical stimulation
- Iontophoresis – this delivers medication through the skin to control pain and swelling in smaller muscle groups. It can also be used to introduce medicines to soften scar tissue or desensitize thickening nerve tissues.
- Phonophoresis – this delivers medication through the skin to control pain and swelling in major muscle groups.
- Scar and soft tissue massage
- Desensitization and sensory re-education
- Joint protection education
- Therapeutic activities
- Customized home exercise programs
Hand therapy is a highly specialized field, requiring continuing education and often advanced certification. Certified hand therapists must have a minimum of five years clinical experience, pass a comprehensive exam, and be knowledgeable about leading-edge surgical techniques and postoperative therapy programs to become certified. This advanced knowledge enables our certified hand therapists to work with you to hasten your recovery and help you return to a productive lifestyle.
Alan's Story
Alan's Story
Alan Schultz had dealt with pain in his left knee for nearly a decade. More recently, however, his throbbing knee was waking him up like clockwork every night at 3 a.m., and he had trouble walking up stairs. At that point, the 65-year-old retiree knew it was time to consult an orthopedic surgeon. “I was ready to put the pain...Read More >
Brian C.
Brian C.
Brian Collins is a leftie. While that fact usually doesn’t impact his life much, it became a serious concern when he severed six flexor tendons, the flexor muscle, and the ulnar nerve in his left forearm, hand, and wrist. Brian, a 44-year-old Howell resident, was walking up his front steps with a glass bottle when he tripped and fell on...Read More >
