Future OT Megan

Back pain is one of the most common injuries in the country so it is extremely important to teach our clients proper body mechanics and posture to help prevent it. Most back pain is caused by poor posture and body mechanics! We also need to make sure to teach proper lifting mechanics and postures as that can help prevent back pain and disorders. It is important to educate our clients on these topics because it can help them maintain independence in their daily life, prevent injury and/or work injuries, and also help relieve some of the back pain they might already be experiencing. With my own clients, I would teach them proper lifting mechanics. I would demonstrate both a proper and incorrect lifting technique. A proper technique consists of bending your knees, widening your base of support on the ground, tighten your abdominal muscles and using your legs to lift the object. Another intervention I would do with my clients is to teach them how to correct their sitting posture. I would ...

In the advertisement for the Women's World Cup 2019, a little girl follows several professional soccer players while they play in the tournament. First, she is shown walking out onto the field with a player from the Netherlands. They walk onto the field from under the tunnel and the little girls sympathetic nervous system is fired on. She is nervous as her breathing is heightened, her palms start sweating, her heart rate starts to rise and her pupils are dilated as she steps onto the field. The sympathetic nervous system releases epinephrine, or adrenaline, to increase her heart rate and move more blood to her muscles to prepare her for "fight-or-flight", or the soccer game. She ends up playing soccer games with many professional athletes as her sympathetic nervous system continues to stay on. She is alert and aware of her surroundings in order to stay in the game. At the end of the advertisement, the little girls steps up for a penalty kick. Here, she takes a deep breath...

In the story, Man from the South, a man makes a bet with a soldier that the soldier's lighter could not light up 10 times in a row. If the lighter didn't light 10 times consecutively, then the man would chop off the soldiers pinky finger. If it does, the man will give him his car. The soldier agrees because he says he does not remember the last time he actually used his litter finger. However, even though you may think you don't use it often, you do. As a soldier one of the main things you do is shooting a gun. Without your little finger it would be difficult to hold the gun steady and also fire the gun. After the lighter has lit up 8 times in a row and the soldiers hand is tied on the table and the man is holding the knife right above the soldiers little finger, the man's wife walks in. She explains that he has nothing to bet because the car is hers. She reaches her hand out to get the key to the car back and she only has 2 fingers. She tells everyone that she had to ...

Implicit bias is something that everyone, not only OT students and practitioners, need to be aware of. Implicit bias in short is someones subconscious stereotypes. Sometimes, you don't even know you have them but being aware of them can help us to fix them or get rid of them. They can be about anything from people, religion, politics or disabilities. Although everyone should be educated on implicit bias, it is extremely important for OT students and practitioners to be educated about it. Occupational therapists believe in occupational justice, or the idea that everyone should have equal opportunity to engage in meaningful occupations that play a part in their personal idenity. OTs also must have cultural-humility, or understanding that occupations are very different for people in different cultural contexts. We need to have cultural-humility and strive to keep learning about other cultures in order to be more client-centered. OT practitioners need to make sure that they are making ...

Scapulohumeral rhythm is extremely important to shoulder range of motion but what is it? The scapulohumeral rhythm is the ratio of the movement between the scapula and the humerus. In normal range of motion of 180° of shoulder elevation, the glenohumeral joint will move 2° for every 1° moved at the scapulothoracic joint. So, it is extremely important that the humerus and scapula are moving in synchrony. If the scapula becomes fixed in retraction and does not upwardly rotate, then the arm cannot flex correctly. This can cause contralateral trunk flexion as a compensatory movement to try to get the arm up higher. Making sure the humerus and scapula are moving and working together can help prevent injury to the glenohumeral joint, bursae and ligaments surrounding the shoulder. Proper scapulohumeral movement requires the scapula to protract and upwardly rotate. Clinically, therapists must pay close attention to this rhythm when assessing the shoulder girdle. Therapist should move the humer...