The Power of Posture

Proper posture and body mechanics are an essential role in prevention of energy and rehabilitation after an injury. Good posture allows our bodies to breath, move, and align properly causing minimal strain to the muscles and joints. Often times, we are unaware of our posture until the pain begins to interfere with our daily activities. Having proper posture and good body mechanics can:

1) Ensure efficiency in performing functional task

2) Prevent injury especially back injuries - most back problems result from poor posture and/ or bad body mechanics

3) Allow internal organs ability to function properly

4) Reduce stress that is put on the spine and avoid strains of additional muscles and ligaments

When teaching proper body mechanics and OT or an OT student would:

Ensure the client is educated on awareness of their own body mechanics. Modify daily task to insure minimal strain on the body. If a person works at a desk all day an example of a modification would be getting a desk that raises and allows the person to stand and work for different periods throughout the day.
Another example would be teaching your client proper body mechanics when lifting. An occuaptional therapist would remind the client to bend at knees, not at waist, do not torque back as you lift, keep object you are lifting below waist level, keep objects close to your center of gravity, avoid reaching for objects.

Education is very important as well as the client being aware of the strains that are being put on their body. With a little practice, good body mechanics and a nice posture can significantly reduce the risk of injury and minimize the level of pain.

Comments

Man from the South

In the story, “Man from the South,” a soldier who was training to be in the U.S Navy was betting the destiny of his pinky finger based on a cigarette lighter. If he loses the bet, and loses his pinky finger, he would most certainly have routine changes that would affect his occupations. Along with losing his pinky finger, he would also lose 50% of his grip strength. If he lost his dominant pinky hand then firing a firearm would be more difficult than if he lost on non-dominant hand however both affecting stabilizing the firearm thus creating poor accuracy. Soldiers have PT which usually involve pull-ups etc. this grip would be significantly affected. With the help of an occupational therapist to modify the handling of a firearm, a sling to help hold the gun in place and have better aim. If the wife would lose grip power for instance holding a vacuum handle, and other various household chores.

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A Day in the Life of CCthefUTureOT901

a day in the life of an OT Student I think as humans we are all very complex. We serve many roles throughout the life-span, some roles over-lap, some roles we serve all the way from beginning of life, to the end of life. Some of us identify as students, teachers, siblings, aunts, uncles, friends, the list could go on and on. My current role, and the role I have served most of my life is a student. My role as a student is probably not much different than my fellow classmates. The occupation that makes up the role of a student is studying, note taking, attending classes, etc. The activities involved in note taking require writing, typing, and sometimes drawling. The task involved in these things are being able to grip a pencil in order to note-take, move my fingers in order to type. Task are the little tiny details required to do the activities that are involved in the occupations and roles that we serve. All of these work together to become my ident...

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