Tag: Bending

Occupational Therapy Assists with Breathlessness

Occupational Therapy Week 2019 is here! How can we help you improve your quality of life?

Occupational therapists help you deal with health issues that impact on your activities by:

  • looking at ways we can do the activities differently,
  • teaching you skills that will help you do the activity,
  • using adaptive equipment or
  • changing the environment you are doing the activity in.

For example I see patients with breathlessness. Someone who has trouble sweeping the floor may need to use a long handled broom and dustpan to eliminate bending which worsens their symptoms. They can also learn breathing techniques that take the effort out of breathing and reduce the time it takes to catch their breath during and following the task. When a person understands the nature of their condition and ways to alleviate symptoms they feel less anxious and their confidence to self manage improves.
Go to https://www.otaus.com.au/find-an-ot  to get back on top of your activities today.
#THISISOT

Scouts Motto : Be Prepared

I have such wonderful conversations with my patients that often have lessons for both patient and therapist. The best patient centred relationship is one where we learn off each other.

We were discussing relievers and spacers and how research has proven the improved dispersal of the reliever when a spacer is used. My patient then went on to say that she has taken to travelling with her reliever and the hand held fan as a kind of mini pulmonary toolkit that gives her the confidence of knowing she is prepared for every circumstance.

It reminded me of a situation I was in last week whilst travelling in Tasmania.

Cradle Mountain, world heritage area of majestic beauty but also a place of extreme weather and unpredictability. I was climbing to the Mt Marion Lookout and found that half way up in the cold and floating rain I had trouble catching my breath.

Exercise induced asthma has little warning I find. As every good explorer should do I had a snack in my pocket and my bottle of water and was rugged up in beanie and coat against the cold.

However just shy of the top things got a little uncomfortable. That need to fill the lungs but not getting as much as I’d like  coupled with the knowledge that I was literally in the middle of nowhere and my nearest reliever was , you guessed it, in the car park an hour and a half away.

There was no way I was going to turn around and miss getting to the top so I used what I had to get relief. I stopped and leaned forward, blowing out through pursed lips and took a rest break to get my breathing under control. After a few minutes rest and hydrating with my drinking water I started up again pacing myself this time, keeping up the pursed lips as I went.

I made it and with a little sprint to compete with my 13 yr old daughter I got there ahead of the family and promptly claimed the seat to lean forward and recover my breathing once more.

To say the least, my patient was wise in her preparation and a puffer in my pocket next time will be part of my good explorer ensemble.

 

The Humble Dressing Stick

Recently I met with a patient who was frustrated over her difficulty in removing a pair of trousers with ankle elastic. Breathlessness and inability to bend for sustained time was the source of anxiety. There sitting on the shelf unnoticed and looking rather understated was the dressing stick awaiting its moment of glory.

Sliding it down directly over the heel through the pant leg and with a slight raise of the bent knee was all it took to remove the offending piece of clothing.

We all like to be independent and manage things without resorting to aids but take a moment and consider the humbleness of this simple stick with a hook and give it the glory due. No matter your age, this stick can make your life just a little simpler.

Factors Affecting Breathlessness: Big Tasks

We have been talking about how activity can make you breathless and ways to cope with this.

The second idea is to break up the task. This means to spread it out over several days, do a bit in the morning and then finish after lunch, or do one bit and delegate another bit to a family member or service provider.

For example, cleaning the house can be overwhelming but if you delegate the once a fortnight floor clean to a service and potter each day for 15 min to declutter or dust then the task becomes doable.

Another example is to wash your smalls in a bucket whilst you are seated  in the shower. Give them a swish round with your feet, gentle squeeze and hang on the laundry stand in the sun. Larger items can go in the machine when family drop by to help.

 

 

Factors Affecting Breathlessness: Exertion

The type of exertion made in activity can be a factor in your breathlessness. Consider the energy needs of what you are doing; can I make this simpler, can I break it down into parts, can I use a piece of equipment to make it easier, can I take out the bending and reaching, can I sit whilst I do the job at hand?

 

The goal is not to stop being active but to change the way you do things in order to maintain your independence for as long as possible.