What does occupational therapy help patients with a spinal cord injury to accomplish?

It helps the patients become as independent as possible. It might be learning basic self-care needs. We also help get patients back to doing what they love to do. So, if a patient is an artist, and they no longer have hand function, how are we going to problem solve through that, how are we going to get them back to doing what they love to do? I had a patient that was a drummer, and that had limited hand dexterity, and we figured out how to adapt batting gloves to hold drumsticks so he could go back to playing the drums. I’ve had patients who were musicians and couldn’t play the guitar any more, so they found their creative outlet through art and helping them problem solve: “How am I going to paint or draw?” And they’ve developed amazing pieces of artwork. So returning back to their jobs or returning to the major roles life—looking at, “How am I going to take care of my child again?”—helping them get really back to the things that are meaningful for them, it’s awesome.

In general, occupational therapy focuses—especially in the early stages—on helping people be able to do their self-care tasks. Activities of daily living, such as being able to feed yourself again, being to be able to do your grooming tasks, wash your face, clean your hands, brush your teeth, being able to shave. For ladies, putting on makeup, being able to do your hair, get yourself dressed—some of the things people without injury take for granted every day.