Knowledge Check 3/27

Before beginning occupational therapy school, I worked as a rehab tech at a PT, OT, and speech clinic for a year. I was the tech to all therapists, but the physical therapists were the majority there, so I spent most of my time with them. One of my main responsibilities was alerting the therapists when the patient arrived, then follow the therapist's instruction on what to get the patient started on while they finished up with their current patient. If they were coming for a shoulder injury, almost always I would start them on the arm bike. I never questioned this until I began OT school. Some of the patients would be on there for a whole ten minutes and not have a clue what the point of the activity was, sitting there waiting for their therapist to come give them instruction. 

Another preparatory method used in this clinic was the finger ladder. Unlike the arm bike, though, a physical therapist did not like this activity and did not want any of the other therapists to use it. The finger ladder was usually just stationed on a table, not mounted anywhere, so it was easily moveable. This therapist would hide the finger ladder in different places and if it was found, he would take it and hide it again. He realized that it was a mundane task that does not motivate patients to reach higher and stretch their arm. Rather, he would have them perform an activity that they found useful, like hanging their coat up. It was always a funny game in the clinic wondering where the finger ladder was hidden, but I now realize that he was doing the clinic a favor by trying to influence the therapists to use a more meaningful activity, rather than just a ladder, to get the patients to perform the tasks and improve.