• Chronic pain such as arthritis, back/neck problems
• Bone, joint or muscle injuries
• Recent surgeries to bones or joints
• Job-related or athletic injuries
• Brain injuries like strokes or tumors
• Wounds (to help speed healing)
• Infants/Children with slow development

Occupation is defined as an everyday ordinary activity, which can include anything from tying your shoes, to playing soccer, to driving a car. Our job in occupational therapy is to make sure that when people are born with a disability, have an injury, or have a debilitating disease that we teach them how to do these “everyday things” again and to do them as independently as possible. Occupational Therapy may mean:

• Helping a child build strength and coordination through playing games
• Teaching somebody who has had a stroke to get dressed independently\
• Teaching somebody who has had a relapse with schizophrenia relearn how to manage their money or relearn how to take care of their children so they can return home
• Hand therapy rehabilitation, which includes making splints and giving specific exercises to promote optimal hand function so people can still participate in their “everyday activities”

• Reduce pain and increase movement and strength after a hand or shoulder injury
• Provide training to increase mental function after a head injury
• Improve strength and return movement after a stroke
• Increase strength and muscle control with a child struggling with everyday activities

• Play sports
• Play board games with the family
• Get dressed
• Write
• Sew
• Hug your child
• Manage your money
• And other activities that we sometimes take for granted