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Arthritis Transcript
University
of Michigan Health System RNS, October 2003, Arthritis
1:55
http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2003/arthritishm.htm
Enabling people with arthritis in everyday life
Suggested
Lead: – Seventy million Americans have some form of arthritis,
a leading cause of disability in the United States. While medication
relieves symptoms of pain and stiffness in the joints, it is occupational
therapy that is helping people regain mobility and independence.
Here is Erin Block with more.
TRT 1:55
SOQ
Some people that have arthritis are unable to fasten buttons;
they are unable to put on their socks; they cannot open any kind
of container or lift a pot with water in it to make a meal. People
that work have a difficult time working an entire day because of
fatigue and many times those who have arthritis cannot work with
a keyboard, hold the telephone or even write.
Occupational therapy focuses on teaching techniques to enable
people with arthritis to be more independent at home or at work.
Therapists look into what is difficult for the person with arthritis
to do and how the disease may be interfering in daily life.
Carole Dodge, occupational therapist at the University of Michigan
Health System tells us
“Occupational therapy is used as an adjunct to medication
because there is no cure. Anything that we can do to assist the
patient in leading a more productive quality of life is what we’re
trying to do. We teach joint protection techniques to reduce stress
on involved joints. We teach energy conservation principles, as
fatigue is a big part of a lot of the diseases. We do splinting
to prevent deformities. We teach patients how to utilize assisted
devices that may make a task that wasn’t able to be performed
now possible, and I love to teach home exercise programs so that
we can make sure that people are gaining flexibility, strength
and endurance, rather than losing it because of the disease.”
Without intervention people with arthritis may become disabled
and lose their independence.
Dodge explains
“Everything we do in occupational therapy
is with that goal, to help patients retain their independence
as long as possible
and, because of the advances in medication and new programs that
are available, as well the increased awareness of therapy, more
patients are receiving intervention.”
No one with arthritis should ever give up. There’s
so much that can be done. Therapists hope that patients talk
to their doctors
or therapists when they have difficulty preforming a task, so they
can get help.
Erin Block, U-M Health System News
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