Licensure, certification, certificates and accreditation are the typical types of credentialing programs, and associations are free to develop credentialing programs. There is no standardization in credentialing terms at the moment and terminology differs in each modality. Rops, 2007. Recreational therapy offers certification, and some States licensing is also required. A person who has graduated from an accredited school with a Bachelor Degree, and those who have taken the national exam, is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS). Many hospital settings use CTRSs in their recovery units, and specialty clinics. CTRSs go through a rigorous exam to become a CTRS. Hiring a CTRS has many benefits, and is helpful in a hospital setting …show more content…
It is prescribed after many types of injury, illness, or disease, including amputations, arthritis, cancer, cardiac disease, neurological problems, orthopedic injuries, spinal cord injuries, stroke, and traumatic brain injuries. The Institute of Medicine has estimated that as many as 14% of all Americans may be disabled at any given time. (n.d.) The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development describe types of rehabilitation that include: cognitive rehabilitation, occupational therapy (OT), pharmacorehabilitation, physical therapy (PT), rehabilitative/assistive/ technology speech and language therapy, surgery, vocational rehabilitation, music or art therapy, and recreational therapy. Rehabilitation medicine improves function in a patient. Hiring a CTRS, has its benefits. Therapeutic recreation (TR) compares to PT, OT since there is an overlay in some treatments that are used for healing. Physical Therapy Web (n.d.), states that occupational therapy focuses on a person’s functional abilities, and does not directly treat a person’s injury using techniques such as manual therapy like PTs administer. OT’s mainly focuses on improving life skills and incorporating adaptive tools at times. It also states that PTs are often “more focused on evaluating and diagnosing movement of dysfunction as well as treating a person’s injury itself.” The article also goes on to say
Observing therapy assistants in the field and seeing what they do in their jobs was an eye opener for me. Getting to experience on-the-job shadowing helped me to identify the roles of a therapy assistant better than reading or talking to people about the job description. First, I shadowed at Athletico Physical Therapy, an outpatient facility in Festus, MO. Paul Kohler is the Occupational/Hand Therapist that I shadowed during my experience. There were several different injuries that I saw, ranging from people with work related injuries to jamming fingers in machines. After observing Mr. Kohler throughout the day, I got to see him interact with patients and perform activities that helped his patients in their rehabilitation phase of recovery. He told me that the improvements he sees first hand from his patients is rewarding and he feels achieved when he sees patients make steady recoveries. From this experience, I also learned that occupational therapy offers a diverse number of avenues for employment. I was pleased to know that I can specialize in a specific area if I desire to do so in the
According to the United States Department of Labor they explain that, “Occupational therapists treat patients with illnesses, Injuries, and disabilities through therapeutic use of everyday activities. Occupational therapist help patients recover, improve, and develop the skills
Working in an interdisciplinary team, gives the team an ability to address the patients’ needs from different perspectives and different strategies. The interdisciplinary team works together to provide the individual with the most beneficial possible outcome. Interdisciplinary teams can include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, social workers, and other health care providers (Mellor, Cottrell, & Moran, 2013). The challenge for being a recreational therapist among a health care field is that many health care providers do not see recreational therapy as a serious, legitimate, and beneficial program for their health service patients as well as for their other health care providers. This idea creates a challenge for not
The main similarity between recreational therapy and athletic training is that they both deal with the improvement of a patients/person’s well-being. They both spend a majority of time working one-on-one with patients. This even applies for an athletic trainer who is working for a sports team. The trainer is still working individually with the athletes to improve their overall performance. Both professions require good socialization skills, as well as knowledge of anatomy and physiology because they specialize in exercise therapy.
With the variety of settings a therapist and assistance can work in, the services that are offered there are different. Some different services that can be offered at these settings can include community mobility skills, stress management, alternative routines and habits, and more. It is important for therapists and assistances to know what settings offer what type of services when they are referencing their client to a new setting. The last topic this article discussed It can be given to anyone who wants to learn about occupational therapy in the psychosocial aspect. When I am working in the field and someone wants to learn more about what I do and what my career includes, I can give them this article to get a basic understanding of what I do.
Physical therapy has been around since 460 BC (History of Physical Therapy). Yet, many people do not actually know what physical therapy is and how it benefits people with various injuries and surgeries. Many physical therapists personalize in different therapeutic practices including orthopedic, post-operative care, cardiovascular, neurologic, rehabilitation, or pulmonary rehab to specialize in the various needs of people. Physical therapy is more beneficial than chiropractors because it improves your mobility, prevents injuries, avoid surgery or recover more quickly from surgery, and the healing process is more natural and can help reduce pain.
People across the world participate in recovery programs every day. Dedicated people in professions, such as occupational therapy, work to help each person regain his or her ability to engage in everyday activities. One wishing to pursue a career in occupational therapy would first need to evaluate the career and the significant effects on themselves and the clients.
People have created a hectic and busy world, that includes careers and daily activities that require physical activity. While attempting to attain the required physical conditioning, people often take chances with their personal health as they try to stretch their physical limits. Sometimes, people can surpass their current limits and form new boundaries; however, other times people are not so fortunate. These unfortunate times often lead to injury, including workplace accidents, sporting incidents, disease afflictions, as well as others; any or all of which could bring about the need of rehabilitation services. Many of these require physical therapy, which includes assisting injured or otherwise impaired patients as they recover to their pre-injury status or to recover as much as is physically possible. The field of physical therapy is a choice career for those who enjoy helping people recover from injury, and the following text will provide reason for choosing this profession.
Not only is physical therapy beneficial to the patient, it is also a beneficial career path. you are able to work with patients one on one, be with them throughout treatment. Also you know how much of an impact you are making in their lives. Helping people to attain or regain the ability to walk and carry out daily life can lead to a great feeling of personal satisfaction. You are able to choose from a wide range of locations and work settings, including hospitals, private practices, outpatient clinics, home health agencies, schools, sports and fitness facilities, employer settings, and nursing
For example an individual could just be a foot physical therapist and just take patients that need help regaining physical ability in their foot. Also there are physical therapists that just work with a certain type of age group. “Geriatric physical therapists, for instance, work with the elderly,” says Hayhurst (Hayhurst 1). And pediatric physical therapists only work with children. Another type of physical therapy is a neurologic physical therapist that specializes in the nervous system. They would help people regain health from a brain injury, spinal cord injury, or a stroke. However the most common type of physical therapy is an orthopedic physical therapist. These types of physical therapists usually work in a hospital on patients that just get out of surgery and need help regaining that muscle back, or patients that visit a clinic on a daily or weekly basis. This type of therapy mainly focuses on the musculoskeletal system, including joints, tendons and bones. The physical therapy field has many options and opportunities for an individual looking for a specialized career
They help them improve their movement and if necessary, help with the pain. “They are an important part of rehabilitation and treatment of patients with chronic conditions or injuries.” They spend a lot of time on their feet, actively working with patients. The following are some of the things that physical therapist typically do: diagnose patients by watching them stand or walk, they set up a plan for their patients, use exercises to help relieve them from any pain, evaluate the patient's progress and they educate their families about the problem. The work of a physical therapist varies on the the type of injury they are working with. For example, a patient that lost mobility due to Parkinson’s disease needs different type of attention as to an athlete recovering from a sprained ankle. This field has five areas: Orthopedic Physical Therapists which mainly focus o the function of the musculoskeletal system as well as sport injuries. Geriatric Physical Therapist are therapist that focus on older adults and work with conditions such as arthritis, cancer, joint replacement, balance disorders, etc. Neurological Physical Therapist focus on neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, brain injury, spinal cord injury and strokes. Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapist help people that struggle with cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions like heart attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary
Physical therapy has five sub-specialty practices: orthopedic, geriatric, neurological, cardiopulmonary and pediatric (“Welcome”). A geriatric physical therapist studies and focuses on the unique movement needs of older adults. These therapists usually give out treatments for conditions such as arthritis, cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, joint replacement and balance disorders (“Welcome”). Geriatric physical therapy is used to help restore mobility, help with physical limitations and reduce pain for older adults. The second sub-specialty practice is neurological physical therapy, which obviously focuses on neurological conditions and impairments. Alzheimer’s disease, brain injury, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease and strokes are just a couple of the neurological conditions that licensed neurological physical therapists work with. There are not many ways to physically improve nerves, but these therapists try their best for their patients. They concentrate on teaching their patients to adapt to visual, balance, mobility, and muscle loss impairments for daily living (“Welcome”). The third sub-specialty practice is cardiopulmonary therapy. This physical therapy practice focuses on helping people who have suffered from cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions; it is also used to help increase endurance and improve functional independence. Pediatric physical therapy is
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a counselling model based greatly on talking therapy. It focuses on peoples underlying thoughts and past experiences, and how they influence current habits and behaviours. CBT tries to correct these and learn alternative ways of processing information to alter the undesired behaviour and/or habits. This is done through a combination of cognitive therapy (looking at the ways and things you think) and behavioural therapy (looking at the things you do).
Physical therapy is a fun and exciting healthcare profession that helps people. It is all about helping other people who have problems with their body, muscles, joints and other parts of their body. Patients includes accident victims and individuals with disabling conditions such as low back pain, arthritis, heart disease, fractures, head injuries, and cerebral palsy. Physical therapy will perform an evaluation of your problem or difficulty. They evaluate your problem by performing tests and measures to assess the problem. These tests includes muscle strength, joint motion, sensory and neurological, coordination, balance, observation, palpation, flexibility, postural screening, movement analysis, and special tests are designed for a particular problem. Next, they develop a treatment plan and goals and then manage the appropriate treatment to aid in recovery of a problem or dysfunction. Physical therapists are able to treat their patients by using many different treatments depending on the type of injury. Some of the treatments are electrical stimulation, hot and cold packs, infrared and ultrasound to reduce swelling or relieve pain. These treatments are used to help decrease pain and increase movement and function. Therapeutic exercises instructions will help restore strength, movement, balance, or skill as a guide towards full functional recovery. Physical therapy provides "hands on techniques" like massage or joint mobilizations skills to restore joint motion or increase soft tissue flexibility. They will focus on basic skills such as getting out of bed, walking safely with crutches or a walker, moving specific joints and muscles of the body. Physical therapists treatment includes patient education to teach them how to deal with a current problem and how to prevent the problem in the future. Such documentation is used to track the patient's progress, and identify areas requiring more or less attention. They encourage patients to use their own muscles. Their main goal is to improve how an individual functions at work and home.
Physical therapists are health care professionals that provide therapeutic services to their patients who have temporary or chronic physical conditions that were caused from injury or disease. Physical therapist also provided therapeutic services to patients after they have gone through surgery to help them gain back mobility and manage their pain. They can also work in preventive care by promoting healthy life styles and instructing individual patients or groups on preventing injury by using exercises that stretch and strengthen muscles. To help their patients try to recover they use massage techniques, wellness plans, and different types of equipment. When a physical therapist sees a patient for the very first time they must do an examination, evaluation, diagnosis, and then put together a physical intervention to start the rehabilitation process. They also work as a team with other health care professionals to help with their patients needs. Physical therapist can really make a difference in their patient’s lives by not only providing therapeutic services but also encouraging and motivating them so they can get better. The main goals of physical therapist are to help their patients retain or gain back lost physical mobility, eliminate or reduce pain, increase productivity and help promote a healthy life style so patients can have a better quality of life and become more independent.