Occupational Therapy is, according to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), «the set of techniques, methods and actions that, through activities applied for therapeutic purposes, prevent and maintain health, promote restoration of function, replaces disabling deficits and values ​​behavioral assumptions and their profound significance to achieve the greatest possible independence and reintegration of the individual in all its aspects: work, mental, physical and social ».

Sometimes the literal translation of the term Occupational Therapy, leads to confuse the purpose of this discipline with the intention of having the person occupied or entertaining. So, it is important to note that the purpose of OT is to achieve the maximum functionality of the person with some type of limitation, whether physical, cognitive, behavioral or a variety of them, through meaningful activity and / or workshops Therapeutics with both general and specific objectives.

Here at Odyssey Builders we specialise in providing quality and innovative construction services and support products that help customers remain living in their own home.

The professionals who carry out this profession are endowed with socio-sanitary knowledge encompassed within the field of rehabilitation, which allow intervention in three areas: self-maintenance, productivity and leisure for the person, and also provide the professional with the capacity to:

• Make an assessment of the person’s abilities and limitations. (With the different batteries of the service).
• Prevent disabilities (imbalances, occupational dysfunctions, anticipate possible injuries and pathologies).
• Perform assessment of sensory, superior, social and psychological abilities.
• Prepare and evaluate rehabilitation treatment programs with their corresponding individualised objectives.
• Obtain the involvement of the patient in their own treatment.
• Train and re-educate in the basic and instrumental activities of daily life.
• Train the use of technical aids whenever and when necessary, compensating for their limitations.
• Make and carry out the prescription of orthoses, prostheses and technical aids, as well as the training of the person in their use.
• Adapt the environment and develop architectural barrier removal programs. Advise families, users and professionals of other specialties.
• Evaluate the means of transport and their possible adaptations.
• Train the individual to achieve the highest possible degree of socio-labor reintegration as an active member within their community.
• Help the individual readjust her daily habits.
• Reintegration of the individual in her daily life and in her environment in the best possible conditions.
• Collaborate with public and / or private institutions for the promotion and development of intervention programs in the population with disabilities.

Where does the occupational therapist intervene?

The scope of the occupational therapist is wide and varied, we name some below:

• Hospitals and clinics (departments of physical rehabilitation and mental rehabilitation).
• Associations of those affected by various pathologies, physical and sensory.
• Occupational and pre-employment centers.
• Special education centers.
• Geriatric residences.
• Orthopedic centers and ergonomic material design.
• Psychiatric units.
• Penitentiary institutions.
• Programs of attention to social marginalization.
• Home care.
• Associations and NGOs.
• Mutual accidents at work.
• Scope of advice (occupational risk prevention teams, disability courts and expertise …)
• Teaching scope (university schools, training, research …)

Occupational Therapy History

Since the beginning of civilizations, activity and movement have been used as a therapeutic means. According to registered documents, the Chinese related the disease as a consequence of the lack of organic activity, so to promote health they designed physical training programs through gymnastic exercises.

In Classical Greek medicine, it was recommended to carry out activities depending on the type of ailment or disease, in order to reduce or alleviate different illnesses, both physical and mental. They already emphasised that occupations should be according to the character and / or temperament of each person.

Renaissance scientists turned their gaze to movement analysis and began to emphasise the importance of prevention versus treatment. In fact, one of these scientists who developed his theories on metabolism tried to demonstrate that occupational activities as well as leisure could increase vitality in people.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the first patterns appeared that would give rise to Occupational Therapy. Occupational exercise was classified into active, passive and mixed exercise. In 1786 Philip Pinel prescribed physical exercises and manual occupation as a therapeutic means of treatment. He prescribed them to patients with mental illness admitted to the hospital where he worked.

The use of occupation, as a therapeutic means within the rehabilitation process, is understood and assumed by authors such as Philip Pinel and William Tuke, who develop the principles and definitions of Occupational Therapy. Finally, it is in the Second World War, when Occupational Therapy was recognised in Europe, although as we have seen before, it had been practicing for years as an essential part of rehabilitation treatments in mental health, along with Physiotherapy and Nursing.

How do we get carry out this treatment?

An important aspect for us is to assess the patient’s state of health, both physical and mental, since it is a fundamental piece when establishing treatment. For these purposes, the first thing we do is pass an initial evaluation, in which we evaluate the performance it shows in its activities of daily living.

For this we evaluate:

• Performance when developing different activities. Orientation in time and space, memory, attention, motor skills, etc.
• Recognition and differentiation of objects and / or situations.
• Interpretation of different stimuli (taste, smell, vision, hearing, touch).

Occupational Therapists have extensive training that provides them with the skills and knowledge to work with those individuals or population groups that suffer the affectation of a body structure or function, due to some change in health, and which therefore causes them to experience limitations in your participation.

Occupational Therapy is practiced in a wide variety of areas of action, including hospitals, health centers, private homes, workplaces, schools, centers for minors and nursing homes. Users are actively involved in the therapeutic process and the results of occupational therapy are diverse, directed at them and measured in terms of participation or satisfaction.

From Odyssey Builders we work to provide the person who suffers from a cognitive, physical or behavioral disability as a consequence of a brain injury, greater independence, functionality and personal autonomy through the development of techniques. and methods to achieve the maximum level of participation and integration of the person in their day to day.