What is the role of occupational therapy after a spinal cord injury? - Katie Powell, OT

With occupational therapy, our goal is to help people live life to the fullest. We work with people to maximize their independence with their occupations. As a field, we take the term “occupation” very broadly—it’s not someone’s job, it’s everything that they need to do during the day. We work with people throughout their life spans, from children and older adults in order to help them improve their quality of life and do the activities they want to do. In the spinal cord injury population, we specialize in maximizing people’s independence with their self-care, and being able to do their roles and the activities they want to do in the home and in the community.