Rehabilitation aims to improve your ability to carry out the everyday activities that have been affected by illness, injury or surgery.
Occupational therapy attempts to help you get the most out of life. As well as being able to complete everyday activities, there are other areas of your life that should also be included in your rehabilitation programme, in particular:
- your work life
- your leisure life
Workplace rehabilitation
Workplace rehabilitation, or vocational rehabilitation, means helping someone with a health condition return to work or start working, or enabling them to carry on working. “Work” does not have to mean a paid role – you could be a full-time parent or a volunteer.
An occupational therapist could help by:
- advising you about possible careers
- assessing your workplace
- assessing your role at work
- assessing your ability to complete work activities, and finding ways to assist you if necessary
- finding ways to manage your condition while at work
- providing additional training
- helping to find a way to cope with problems like discrimination and prejudice
- helping your employers manage your return to work and increasing awareness of your condition
- monitoring your progress
Leisure rehabilitation
Leisure rehabilitation could cover any fun activity, such as taking up a hobby or attending social events.
Taking part in leisure activities can prevent people feeling isolated because of their condition and improve their quality of life. While you need to be able to care for yourself and work, being able to take part in activities simply for pleasure is also important.
An occupational therapist may discuss what goals you would like to achieve, and then break this down into single tasks. For example, if you like going shopping but find it tiring, your occupational therapist may suggest taking regular breaks. If you have a love of gardening but find it difficult to reach the flower beds, your occupational therapist may suggest sitting on a stool rather than trying to bend down.
Activity grading and graded exposure
One way your occupational therapist may encourage you to return to work or resume your hobbies is with activity grading. Activity grading is a way of breaking down an activity you want to complete into stages that become increasingly more difficult.
For example, if your goal is to walk to work but it is too far for you to do at once, this can be broken down. On your first day, you can get the bus most of the way and then walk the last part. Each week, you could get off the bus a stop earlier and increase the distance you walk. The activity becomes increasingly difficult as you gradually reach your goal of walking to work.
As you become more confident with an activity, you can progress to the next stage and eventually reach your goal.
Graded exposure is similar to activity grading, but is more focused on dealing with the emotional and psychological element of rehabilitation. It is used to help gradually build your confidence and establish meaningful routines which you may have otherwise avoided.
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