How do occupational therapists help with eating after a spinal cord injury? - Mary Jane Mulcahey, PhD, OTR/L

We have a lot of adaptive splints and utensils. The universal cuff is the classic—where if somebody doesn’t have hand function, we have a cuff, we put it on their hand, and the fork goes in the little cuff and they feed themselves. We use long straws for people who can’t bring a soda can to their mouth. We use plates with rims on them when there’s problems with scooping. We also adapt the food. For example, if somebody enjoys soup, we put some crackers in and we make it thicker so it’s easier for them to eat.