Occupational Therapy

The Acute Care OT plays an essential role in collaborating with the interdisciplinary team and making recommendations to coordinate an appropriate plan of care that supports the patient’s functional performance. The goals of inpatient therapy are to assess each patient to determine the safest discharge plan. Therapists focus on your current level of mobility, self-care, & cognitive abilities. They may refer you to go home with homecare services, outpatient therapy, or further rehabilitation. Acute care rehab services also evaluates the need for equipment (i.e., cane, walker, commode) to ensure a safe and efficient discharge.

We offer care and treatment for:

• Recovering after cardiac and orthopedic surgery
• Trauma and injury
• Stroke and neurologic conditions
• Oncology
• New onset disease
• Brain injury
• Amputations

The goals of therapy in the inpatient rehab setting are to optimize functional independence, focusing on safety and lifestyle modifications. The occupational therapists focus on purposeful, goal-directed activities including self-care skills or “activities of daily living,” including bathing, dressing, self-feeding and toileting. Areas of assessment and treatment include cognition, vision, motor planning, and coordination to complete self-care tasks with increased independence. The therapists will assess the patients needs and barriers to discharge. In this setting, therapists may spend time training patients and their caregivers to use adaptive equipment to improve safety and independence.

Stamford Health’s outpatient departments are located at the Tully Center and in conjunction with HSS at Chelsea Pier. For some, outpatient treatment may represent a patient’s “first and only” experience in a rehabilitation setting (for example, a person with a wrist fracture will visit outpatient rehabilitation without having needed to visit any other setting at Stamford Health.) For others, the outpatient visit may represent the final leg of their rehabilitation journey. While outpatient occupational therapists typically focus on deficits related to the upper extremity remediation and restoration, they treat a variety of orthopedic, neurological, oncology and general medical diagnoses. More specifically, they deliver hand therapy and splinting services, pediatric care, concussion and Traumatic Brain Injury care, Vision and Vestibular Therapy, Lymphedema services, and the LSVT program for people with Parkinson’s disease. Regardless of diagnosis, outpatient occupational therapists at Stamford Health are dedicated to tailoring their treatments each patient's individual needs, enabling them to return to their highest level of independence and quality of life.

Hand therapy addresses the biomechanical issues underlying upper-extremity conditions. Therapists use an occupation-based and client-centered approach that identifies the participation needs of the client—what he or she wants to be able to do in daily life that is fulfilling, necessary, and or meaningful. OTs work closely with surgeons or treating physicians to ensure the most favorable therapeutic outcomes.

Examples of conditions and injuries of the upper extremity, include:

• Fractures
• Arthritis and rheumatic diseases
• Crush injuries or trauma
• Dislocations and subluxations
• Ligament injury and instability
• Muscle strains, tears, and avulsions
• Tendon injuries and conditions (e.g., lacerations, tendonitis, ruptures)
• Nerve injuries and conditions (e.g., neuropathies, palsies, nerve repair)
• Pain (e.g., complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia)
• Wounds and scars
• Neuromuscular pathologies

Your plan of care may consist of:

• Therapeutic activities
• Therapeutic exercise
• Splint design, fabrication, fitting, and training
• Joint protection and or energy modification in home, work, school, or leisure activities
• Sensory re-education
• Ergonomic education
• Mirror therapy
• Scar management
• Pain management
• Training in activities of daily living and adaptive or assistive devices
• Education for post-surgical or post-injury safety, including sensory loss