My OT Adventure

After an individual has sustained an injury, surgery, or any other various factor that may influence mobility, a hierarchy has been developed for mobility skills. This allows for therapists to have a consistent and useful tool to help patients back to a more individualized lifestyle. The mobility skills hierarchy starts with bed mobility, to mat transfers, to wheelchair transfers, to bed transfers, to functional ambulation for ADLs, to toilet/tub transfers, to car transfers, to functional ambulation for community mobility, to community mobility and driving.     After thinking about the reasoning and various factors behind each mobility skill, this hierarchy is what I would expect. Each level increases the amount of skill, balance, and stability an individual must have to complete a transfer and that would begin with the simplest task of bed mobility. This includes rolling, bridging, and going from supine to sit. This is an important base to begin with because it ensures...

As an occupational therapist, one of our priorities when working with clients who need assistive devices is to properly fit them to this device. This will allow optimal comfort, stability, mobility, and reduce injury. For example, if someone using lofstrand crutches were not fitted properly, they may not be able to reach the arm cuffs, which will provide them with less stability, and in turn may lead to injury. Another example may be if someone were using a platform walker and the platform was not adjusted to the correct position, the client could experience nerve compression in their forearm.  There are many details when it comes to fitting an individual to their assistive device, but therapists will mainly look at certain measurements, specific bony landmarks when fitting the device, and the client should be standing tall and wearing shoes when being fitted. For fitting a cane, the hand grip should be positioned at the ulnar styloid, wrist crease, or greater trochanter. Add...