Introduction to Occupational Therapy in Every Day Words

Occupational Therapy is now one of the most popular jobs for those looking to make a difference in the lives of others. Before you choose Occupational Therapy as a career, it is important to know the career, especially its good and bad sides. Working as an Occupational Therapist has its good sides and bad sides and it is important to gain the right information before making occupational therapy your main profession. This guide will help you understand the role of an occupational therapist so you can make a decision before moving into the field.

The objectives of this guide are below:

Who needs occupational therapy?
What does the occupational therapist do during rehabilitation?
An overview on occupational therapy
Decide if you are interested in pursuing a career in the field

Who Needs Occupational Therapy?

People who have become affected by physical problems will need an OT's help. Patients range the gamut from children who are having trouble developing certain motor skills up to seniors who are trying to regain the fine control they had when they were younger.

You may also encounter people who have lost their motor skills due to various accidents, trauma, or injuries. The responsibility of the occupational therapist is to help these patients find control of their motor skills or even, develop their motor skills.

Occupational therapists are given the opportunity to help children become more independent and participate more effectively in school and help adults return to work once they have cured their physical problems. From time to time, you may also be assigned to help older people care for themselves after a fall or injury.

What is the role of a therapist in rehab?

As an occupational therapist, you will identify the individual's current condition sometimes with the help of family members to determine the goals of therapy, perform these activities and realize these objectives. It is also your task to oversee the growth of your patient. When modifications are required, you will be responsible for those, as well.

On certain dates, you must visit your patients at their homes, schools, or workplace to inquire about their developments. The occupational therapist will help the family of the patient get any training needed to make the therapy successful. Your explanations will help to ensure the patient recovers as soon as possible.

The Truth Behind the Name- What is "Occupational Therapy"?

People often think that occupational therapy is associated with office work. The term "occupations" refer to those daily tasks that are required for normal functioning, and can include brushing hair and teeth, tying shoes, and self feeding. These are known as "occupations".

Anyone who begins to lose the ability to go about these daily activities will be affected tremendously. As an occupational therapist, it is your job to help these people regain their ability to care for themselves. You will definitely help people live their lives normally once again.

Occupational therapy is not a career for everyone, but those who pursue the career often find it to be deeply rewarding.

Researching Massage Therapy Education

Nowadays, massage therapy is an extension of physical therapy and goes along with the same educational standards as any medical therapist would. Meeting the requirements of national, local and state certification requires individuals to approve stringent training courses in an assortment of related subjects.

Despite the fact that there are numerous accredited schools that offer a complete message therapy education, the selections will not be simple. The benefits, naturally will be the acceptance by other medical practitioners, respect and trust of your future patients and acknowledgment by health insurers.

The Training

Over half of the states regulate the practice of massage. The requirements of the state all vary. Every one of them require at a minimum 500 hours of training as well as education and several require even more than that. There are some states that require national certification prior to a therapist being able to apply for state recognition. The national level of certification also requires at a minimum 500 hours of training in massage therapy education in an accredited school.

There must be included in the training at least 125 hours of physiology and anatomy, 200 hours of massage and/or bodywork application as well as theory, 40 hours of pathology, 10 hours of ethics as well as business and at a minimum 125 hours of related coursework. A practitioner with 500 hours of experience and training as well as knowledge of the required areas can also submit for review a personal portfolio of examination.

The national certification exam has a minimum of 160 questions that covers all of the required areas of massage therapy education. To maintain your good standing, a professional needs to be certified once every four years. Standards in the Canadian provinces will require a minimum of 2,000 hours.

Prior to choosing a school, a practitioner should determine on what the kind of massage that he or she wishes to specialize in. A general massage therapy education must include rehabilitation, pregnancy massage, sports injuries, pain relief and relaxation massage.

Be sure that the school you choose is fully accredited so that you can qualify for loans and grants. Massage therapy education tuition ranges from about $6-$17 per hour. The needed 500 hours typically runs from $5000-$9000.

Once you have graduated, there are numerous opportunities for seminars and workshops to maintain your massage therapy education and keeping up to date. When you understand the minimum that these educational and training requirements are that you need to complete, you will have a very good idea of what your competition will be like.

Other massage therapists in your area will have at least these levels of training plus contacts and experience. If all of these hours of massage therapy education as well as training sound interesting and exciting, you might have what it takes.

Chiropractors Offer Modern Pain Management Treatment Options

Chiropractor treatment has expanded in the past 15 years dramatically. Decades ago, chiropractic treatment consisted mainly of spinal manipulations and a few exercises along with maybe some weight loss treatment. That is no longer the case by an exponential amount as multiple additional treatment are now being offered by chiropractors.

Chiropractors receive considerable education after college that it's actually four years just like medical school. They receive a very good education on the musculoskeletal anatomy, physiology, and treatment of the problem. As with most modern medical fields, advancements in chiropractic treatment have definitely kept up with the rest of pain management.

Upon going to a modern chiropractic doctor's office, you'll often see a significant amount of electronic equipment. This includes a spinal decompression therapy machine, which is a technology involving computerized intermittent traction that can effectively relieve back pain, neck pain, or arm and leg pain. This has revolutionized the treatment of degenerative disease, sciatica, spinal stenosis, and facet arthritis along with ruptured or bulging discs.

Another piece of treatment equipment you may see is electrical simulation and ultrasound. These devices are great for helping patients get better and involve laying on the table and having foam pads placed over the painful area. Then electrical stimulation is administered through the skin in order to alter the way that pain is perceived by the brain and is designed to tire out the muscles that are being treated in order to relieve pain. Ultrasound can help decrease inflammation along with pushing steroid medication from the skin a couple centimeters into the soft tissues acting as an intense anti-inflammatory medication.

Additional equipment that you may see in a chiropractic office might look exactly like physical therapy equipment. The reason is that a lot of chiropractors are trained in physical rehabilitation, which is the same exercises involved in physical therapy except being performed by the chiropractor. This can work exceptionally well for low back and neck pain and along with the other treatments now being offered. This explains why chiropractic treatment is over 85% effective in the US.

At any one point in time, over 10% of Americans are under the care of a chiropractic clinic. Based on the continually modern treatments being added to the profession, one can easily see why. Chiropractors in the US do not prescribe medications, yet the success rate for effectiveness in pain management is very high. The reason that these treatments along with spinal manipulation are great, and provide patients with the pain relief needed to increase their functional abilities.

Massage Therapy - Soldiers Can Benefit Just As Athletes Have Relied Upon Massage Therapy For Decades

Massage has numerous physical, mental, and physiological health benefits. Therapeutic massage is especially important for athletes and military personnel, not only helping the body recover from injury, but also preventing injury and helping to promote increased blood circulation. A well-trained masseur can help keep athletes and soldiers in peak physical condition at any stage of training through sports oriented massage techniques.

Through massage therapy, the body increases blood and lymph cell activity to damaged and deprived areas to stimulate repair. The deep tissue types of massage can help to reduce lactic acid build up and enable muscles to recover easier. Massage can even be used to stimulate breakdown of previous scar tissue and increase the elasticity of the muscles. The benefits help to physically repair and maintain an athlete or soldier's body.

Physiologically, an athlete or soldier's body can endure quite a beating at times. Massage can help reduce tension in the muscles that can cause pain and inflammation. Therapeutic massage can even be preferred over pain medications. Before or after a body's exertion, massage can help to soothe, calm, and relax the individual.

Mentally, an athlete or soldier needs to be constantly prepared. Constantly being on edge or at-the-ready causes anxiety and stress. Theses stressors, though ensuring alertness, also impact performance. Massage can assist in reducing these feelings of anxiety and help with mental acuity.

Working with an experienced masseur and practicing a proper massage routine, many athletes and soldiers can keep their body in peak performance condition. Both athletes and military personnel are dependent on their bodies to keep them in action, and each relies on their body to overcome and succeed beyond normal mental and physical limits. By preventing injuries and stimulating muscles through massage, their bodies will reward them with peak performance.

Shiatsu for Endometriosis - Massage Treatment of Endometriosis

From a shiatsu massage perspective, endometriosis is mostly the result of two patterns of imbalance, liver energy stagnation and kidney yang deficiency, occurring together. The following signs and symptoms - irritability, melancholy, moodiness, a feeling of fullness and pain along the side of the chest, tightness in the chest, sighing, a feeling of tightness in the throat or of something stuck in the throat - belong to a pattern of imbalance called liver energy stagnation. If the patient is a woman there could also be irregular periods, premenstrual breast or nipple distension and tenderness, premenstrual tension and irritability.

Further, the stagnating liver energy can produce strong, painful cramping which may cause menstrual blood and debris to flow upwards through the fallopian tubes into the pelvic cavity. If the liver imbalance is also accompanied with a kidney imbalance, called kidney yang deficiency, (puffiness or tending to be overweight, lethargy, low libido and general motivation, lower backache, dizziness, sometimes accompanied by pain in the knees and legs which worsens in cold weather), this combination of patterns can lead to endometriosis or infertility.

Because kidney yang is weak, the upward flowing debris is not reabsorbed but sticks to the membranes and organs in the pelvis. This endometrial tissue may be pigmented or non pigmented. The pigmented tissue contains blood vessels and bleeds at menstruation. It is more likely to cause pain. The non pigmented type has no blood vessels and so does not respond to the hormonal changes that cause the uterine lining to bleed. However it secretes mucus which can coat the fimbriae of the fallopian tubes, the ovaries and the other organs and cavities in the pelvic region.

These mucus coatings can form adhesions which hinder the release of the ovum, its movement into the fallopian tube and its fertilization. The mucus and adhesions belong to a pattern of imbalance called phlegm damp which has the following symptoms:- mucus, being overweight or a tendency to be overweight; menstrual periods often being scanty and thick or mucousy, perhaps being irregular and long; although there is an increase in mucus membrane discharges, including vaginal discharge, there is very little of the stretchy, fertile mucus occurring at ovulation as the phlegm damp obstructs the cervical glands producing the fertile mucus.

Endometriosis can be associated with painful periods, painful intercourse, premenstrual spotting and infertility but may occur without these symptoms. Women with severe endometriosis may have no menstrual difficulties or infertility while those with insignificant amounts of endometriosis can have extreme menstrual pain and difficulty in conceiving. Some of the reasons endometriosis can obstruct fertilization are:

• Endometriosis on the ovaries or fallopian can distort these organs preventing conception.


• Endometriosis may attract or activate more macrophages. Macrophages engulf matter seen as foreign, such as bacteria and cellular debris as well as sperm that have swum up the fallopian tubes onto the peritoneal cavity. If they are excessively activated by endometriosis, they may enter the fallopian tubes and engulf sperm before they can fertilize the ovum.


• Macrophages also produce cytokines which are toxic to sperm and to embryos.


• Endometriosis that adheres to the surface of the peritoneal membranes produces mucus which can coat the fimbriae and the ovary preventing the transfer of the ovum from ovary to fallopian tube.


• Endometriosis is associated with higher levels of prostaglandins which may negatively affect the function and flexibility of the fallopian tubes.


• Endometriosis is associated with luteinized unruptured follicle syndrome (LUFS) and lower progerosterone levels in the luteal phase (second half of the menstrual cycle).

Shiatsu massage and herbal therapy can be used to treat these imbalances underlying endometriosis and infertility.

Low Back Pain Physical Therapy - Solutions For Aches and Pains

Physical therapy is a very useful tool for many different situations. With so many millions of people experiencing low back pain every single year, it's often nice to know that there are more effective solutions than medical procedures, harsh medications, and just waiting it out. While many people assume that injury to their back requires rest and keeping still, this is actually detrimental in many cases. Low back pain physical therapy is a much better alternative and can help speed the healing process along if done properly. Of course, you should be able to rest the area to give it time to heal, but you can't lie around and do nothing for any extended period of time or the muscles will get stiff and create more problems for you. Consider low back pain physical therapy if you want an effective solution that doesn't involve serious treatments or procedures.

Physical therapy routines can be prescribed by a doctor, physical therapist, or even a chiropractor. While many people will discount the credibility of chiropractors as a source of medical advice, they are trained in the physiology of the body and know what they are talking about. They can offer treatment plans for your low back pain that include physical therapy along with other procedures such as electrical therapy, heat/ice therapy, and massage. Make sure that you discuss all of your symptoms with whatever doctor you visit to ensure that you get the best treatment program for your needs without putting yourself in more danger than it's worth. The great thing about getting professional therapy for back pain is that you can often experience better results than if you tried to do things yourself.

There are many different types of low back pain physical therapy that people can take on, depending on their exact injuries and what they're capable of doing. For example, if an older person with limited mobility has lower back pain, they can still find many effective exercises that will help to alleviate or even completely eliminate their back pain if they work with a physical therapist or their family doctor. All that you need to do is to take the time to make sure that you get the right medical treatment and that you fully disclose everything to the doctor or therapist so that you don't put yourself in more danger than it is worth when it comes to working out back problems with physical therapy.

Low back pain physical therapy isn't for everyone. However, it can be an effective solution for many people who are looking for something simple and less invasive or serious than medical procedures and prescription medication. Usually, if you are prescribed some type of therapy routine, it will involve stretching and strength training exercises combined, which will help to loosen the sore muscles in the lower back and make the other muscles around them stronger so that the back isn't under as much stress and is able to function better in the future. Of course, everyone is different and so is every treatment that is prescribed, so you will just have to talk to your doctor to see what they think is best for your needs.

If you are looking for a permanent solution to pain relief, you should talk to your doctor about low back pain physical therapy treatments. In many cases, the exercises that you do in physical therapy will help to make the body healthier and stronger so that you can avoid future injuries and pain in the back because your body is not strong enough or healthy enough to handle the stress that is put on your back. However, if you have a chronic condition, physical therapy might just offer a simple pain management program that allows you to make the pain less severe and more sporadic than it might have been without the therapy. No matter how you use it or what you get out of physical therapy for low back pain, it can be an effective solution for just about anyone that is suffering from low back pain. If you want a natural treatment that is effective, you need to learn about physical therapy for back pain.

Massage Therapy for Shoulder Pain

As a massage therapist, I've seen my fair share of clients with shoulder pain and injuries. This article will review what causes shoulder pain, the massage therapy treatment that will help, as well as simple exercises you can do yourself.

Shoulder pain can be caused by a wide variety of things such as sports injury, repetitive strain, motor vehicle accidents, and in some cases the cause is unknown. Sometimes the pain can come on suddenly, and others it has a gradual onset. Even if the pain came on suddenly, in most cases, the problem may have started a while ago.

The massage therapy treatment will differ slightly depending on how the pain started, so make sure you try and explain to your RMT exactly what you are feeling in your shoulder, how long it's been there, and how it started. This will help your massage therapist determine not only what structures might be injured, but also what the root cause of your shoulder pain is, which in most cases is bad shoulder posture.

Shoulder posture, the key to all injuries

Being slumped over a desk, working at a computer, and starring at a monitor for 8 hours a day is how most Torontonians spend their weekdays. That is 40 hours sitting with your shoulders and head slumped forward, and your arm reaching for the mouse so thousands of daily clicks can be performed. CRAZY! It's no wonder I have so many client suffering with shoulder injuries, and pain.

Remember your mother telling you that if you make that funny face again, you might get stuck that way? Well she may have been wrong about the face thing, but if you repeatedly place your body in a certain position it will definitely stay that way. Muscles will adaptively shorten, or lengthen, and the fascia, the connective covering around the muscles and body, (Think saran wrap) will tighten around the new altered posture, making sure you stay that way.

In the case of slumped shoulders, the Pectoralis major and minor (Muscles of your chest) become very tight and short. This pulls your shoulders forward and upwards causing your upper shoulders and neck to get very tight as well. In contrast, the muscles of the upper back and around the shoulder blades, become very weak and overstretched, so even if you wanted to stand up straight your muscles are no longer strong enough to fight against the super tight pecs.

In this slumped position, the ligaments and capsule of the shoulder are lax, and no longer stabilize the shoulder joint like they should. This will predispose the shoulder to injury, because it is no longer as stable. On top of that, it will also cause the muscles that cross the shoulder joint to work overtime because they want to try and re-stabilize the shoulder. This will lead to chronic tension and pain the muscles of the shoulder.

Not only does this position cause tight muscles and lax ligaments, but it also alters the normal movement between the bones of the joint, we call it altered joint biomechanics. This altered biomechanics will cause the arm bone ( humerus) to squish the tendons that attach around the shoulder. So every time the arm is moved, the tendons get squished. OUCH!! Overtime these tendons get very irritated and inflamed, leading to tendonitis, or worse, a tear in the tendon.

Now if you suffer from shoulder pain you may have noticed that the pain can come and go, sometimes it's better and sometimes it's worse. This is because our body has an amazing way to repair itself, and injuries will heal. Unfortunately if the root cause, (slumped posture) is not rectified the injury and pain will re-occur... and this is where MASSAGE THERAPY STEPS IN!

Massage therapy for shoulder pain focuses not only on decreasing the pain, and speeding up the healing process, but also fixing posture, the root cause of the injury. At Myocare, our RMT's at our downtown Toronto location have specialized in shoulder treatments. These treatments begin by massaging all the muscles of the shoulder. This helps decrease the chronic tension and knots in the muscles, eliminating pain related to the musculature. We then proceed to releasing very specific muscles, such as the Pectoralis major and minor, as well as muscles of the neck, and the biceps. By releasing and re-lengthening these muscles, the shoulder joint, and blade are able to fall back to their normal resting position.

In this position, the biomechanics of the joint return to normal, allowing the tissue to heal, and before you know it, the shoulder pain is gone!!

Once the pain is gone, this means the acute swelling has decreased, and the tissues are healing nicely. In order to make sure they heal nice and strong, our RMT's will give you some very specific strengthening exercises. These exercises will re-strengthen the injured tissue, as well as fix your posture, so you're shoulder pain doesn't return.

How you can help yourself

On top of picking up your phone and booking yourself a massage with any of our RMT's you can also do some simple exercises that will help with your posture. One simple exercise is called the 5 point stance. This exercise helps re-educate your brain on what prefect posture is, as well as stretches and strengthens some of your muscles. As you've probably guessed this exercise have 5 simple steps.

1. Stand against a flat wall with your feet hip width apart, about a foot away from the wall.

2. Tuck your tail bone in, like if you had a long tail and you were trying to put is between your legs

3. Flatten your shoulder blades so they are flat against the wall. (Or as close as possible)

4. Pull your finger tips towards the floor.

5. Tuck your chin in, like you're trying to make a double chin, flatten the back of your head against the wall, and pretend a rope, tied to the ceiling is pulling the very top of your head upwards.

Now hold this position for 15 seconds, and repeat it 3 times. Do these exercise minimum 1 x per day, and within a few weeks you should see an improvement in your posture.