Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy or OT is a health profession with the use of treatments to develop, recover, or maintain the daily living and work skills of patients with physical, mental or developmental disabilities and impairments.Occupational therapy is a patient-centered practice implementing interventions focus on adapting the environment, modifying the task, teaching the skill, and educating the client/family in order to increase participation in and performance of meaningful daily activities.In general, the ultimate goal of occupational therapy is to improve the working skill and limb function in the needed patients.
The occupational therapy treatment area at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei.
When planning treatments, occupational therapists will take into account the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and environmental factors that may benefit or worsen the daily living skills of functionally impaired patients. In occupational therapy, orthosis and splints can be fabricated for the patients to improve their functional skills. For instance, the application of ankle-foot-orthosis can benefit post-stroke patients with dropped foot during ambulation training. Resting splints to the wrists can be applied to patients with carpal tunnel syndrome to ease the numbness of the affected hands. Our occupational therapy uses the most modern thermoplastic material in which splints can be fabricated and modified directly on the patient’s skin to ensure perfect fitting.The occupational therapy treatment area in the Taipei Chang Gung Memorial Hospital is also situated on the 7th floor. Here are some of the pictures showing the facilities we have in the occupational therapy treatment area:
The thermoplastic water heating tank. Splints can be molded and fabricated here to ensure a perfect fit to the patients.
Left: Ankle foot orthosis, posterior type. Can be used for patient with dropped foot. Middle: Wrist resting splint. Can be used for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. Right: Elbow anti-spastic splint. Can be used for patients with elbow spasticity .
