Occupational therapy and kinesiology have been used in recent years to enhance physical performance as well as prevent injury.
This article will offer insights into how Chilliwack Occupational Therapists and Kinesiologists’ Comprehensive Rehabilitation Care can provide you with significant benefits, whether you are an athlete, a regular individual seeking ways to avoid injury, or someone with elderly parents who wants to enhance their strength and prevent falls and injuries.
These professionals understand how your body is programmed, so they can help you achieve your fitness goals and prevent injuries from occurring.
Increase Strength and Mobility
Kinesiology, a type of physical therapy and movement science, has recently gained fame as an effective injury prevention method. It used stretching, strength building, and biomechanical analysis to help you optimize your physical performance and reduce the risk of injuries. Whether you are an athlete or not, you should explore all the various advantages of going for occupational therapy and kinesiology. The best aspect of this is, even elderly people who are prone to accidents can increase their strength and reduce their risk.
When you increase your strength and mobility through exercise like weightlifting or resistance training, it supports your body’s joints and bones, increasing your stability against potential impact forces that may occur during physical activity.
What’s more, you can enhance your flexibility through stretching to help improve your range of motion and prevent your muscles from being overstretched or overworked during physical activity.
Improve Range of Motion and Safety
Surgery procedures and injuries like arthritis and stroke can cause many changes in your body, making it hard to move certain joints like the knee and shoulder.
Occupational therapists will work on increasing your range of motion by stimulating motion performance and help you make joint-related movements called active assistive motion range.
This is when you move your arm or perform other joint-related movements on your own without physical assistance.
This is achieved through proper body positioning, such as lying down on your back or side, to support independent function. While lying, there is decreased resistance caused by gravity and increased ease of joint mobility. However, you will be guided not to push yourself too hard or too fast, especially if you are positioned inappropriately.
Additionally, there are other techniques, such as compensatory prevention, designed to help individuals with limited strength build their strength.
One common example of this procedure is in someone with a weak shoulder joint, who will shrug their shoulder upward and bring the arm close to their body to achieve some motion. While this can be helpful at that moment, it will lead to pain over time and further reduce strength.
Visit
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/activity/strength-exercises for simple exercises to do at home to build strength.
Overcome the Struggles of Everyday Life
One of the roles of occupational therapists and kinesiologists is to help you overcome the struggles of daily life. Elderly people often struggle with daily activities like walking, eating, and more, which can be challenging and frustrating, leading them to give up halfway.
What’s more, once they fail to perform these basic life tasks, they are unlikely to attempt to participate in any other life activities, such as social gatherings, family outings, and their hobbies. This can lead to depression and a feeling of isolation.
This is where occupational therapists help. They work with elderly individuals, teaching them exercises and rehabilitation techniques that enable them to perform daily tasks, such as dressing, eating, and bathing, more easily.
Overall, these professionals help patients improve their fine and basic motion skills, strength, and dexterity, as well as their range of motion, as mentioned earlier. These minor improvements can make a massive difference in the patient’s mental well-being.
Click here to learn a few tips on how to prevent falls at home.
Prevent Falls
It’s estimated that one in four Americans aged 65 and above has one or even two falls annually. And that every 11 seconds an elderly adult is treated in an emergency due to a fall, and every 19 minutes one person dies from a fall.
Although falling might seem like a minor problem, considering the statistics, it’s very dangerous, especially for the elderly. The thought of your precious elder falling without anybody around to help them is already scarring.
Thankfully, you can feel at ease by enrolling your parents or grandparents in an occupational therapy class, where they will gain awareness of the prevalence of falls among elderly patients.
These therapists teach their patients simple and easy methods to prevent falls and engage them in exercises that help balance their bodies, build their muscles, and keep them strong and alert.
Memory Rehabilitation
Whenever occupational therapy or kinesiology is mentioned, people often only think about the physical benefits of these fields. However, these procedures go beyond just physical benefits; they have many mental perks as well. When you visit an occupational therapist like https://symmetryrehab.ca/chilliwack-occupational-therapy-kinesiology/, they will first evaluate your cognitive and physical abilities. This will allow them to determine which training plan is right for you.
For instance, if you are taking an elderly parent with dementia, the therapist will first assess their strengths and weaknesses, then develop a comprehensive plan that involves maintaining their strong areas and strengthening their weak areas.
Additionally, most elderly people suffer from a certain degree of memory loss; occupational therapists have different techniques they can use to help patients regain their memory skills.
Conclusion
Professional Occupational therapists and kinesiologists can greatly help you in improving your strength and posture. They will create a comprehensive exercise plan based on your body’s needs.
It’s not only athletes who benefit from these exercises; people with reduced range of motion, the elderly who have started losing their strength, and those experiencing memory loss can often regain their balance, become stronger, and prevent memory loss.
