Hello Susan: This is a 90 y/o man who has been VERY active most of his life, especially when he was younger. He played lots of contact sports and has worked with his hands all his life.
Alas, age has caught up with him and while still active he does a lot less than he once did. However, he still gets up in the early morning to do his exercise which he readily demonstrated for me. I asked him how his OA was limiting him and he could not identify any specific areas. He is independent with self-care. He does have considerable pain during UE ROM (especially in his elbows) and even during rest. At times, the pain is quite debilitating (7 out of 10). He could NOT identify any pattern to his pain and has not been able to find any relief. I did not observe any deformation in his joints, although there is obviously some secondary to the OA. He is on a limited income so purchasing equipment/braces, etc may not be an option. It seems his primary complaints are related to pain. Here's the funny part. The man is currently seeing PT secondary to a total knee replacement, pain in his hip and pain in his cervical spine secondary to a stenosis. It just kills me that they referred him to OT for his upper extremity problems. Of course the order from the orthopedic doctor did state "OT/hand therapy". The man may find some temporary relief from some modalities but these are just temporary measures. Short of saying "take your pain meds, don't over-stress your joints, take it easy when it hurts, and be as active as you can tolerate", I don't know what else to say. Ron ----- Original Message ----- From: susanne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subj: [OTlist] Treatment Ideas s> Tell us a bit more, Ron, about the OA, the pain, and his s> occupations. s> Also - which previous therapy? Was he taught joint protection s> techniques, and is he using them? Does he have the right s> tools/assistive devices, and is he using them? How's the pain s> corresponding to activity, rest, heat, cold, time of day...? s> How is he responding to the pain? What would he be doing s> (more of) if it wasn't for the pain? >> I don't think there's anything that I can do that will be >> medically >> necessary s> Like preventing joint deformities and thus further loss of s> function, and further pain... ? s> susanne, denmark s> ----- Original Message ----- s> From: "Ron Carson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> s> To: <[email protected]> s> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 1:33 AM s> Subject: [OTlist] Treatment Ideas >>I have received a referral for a client for UE rehab - gotta >>love >> THAT!!! >> >> Anyway, the guy has some OT in his UE and I don't know what to do. >> He >> has good ROM but pain. He is not limited in his daily occupations >> but >> has pain while doing them. He has found no relief from any >> previous >> therapy. >> >> I don't think there's anything that I can do that will be >> medically >> necessary. But I am looking for suggestions! >> >> Thanks, >> >> Ron >> >> >> -- >> Unsubscribe? >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> Change options? >> www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com >> >> Archive? >> www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] >> >> Help? >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Unsubscribe? [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] Help? [EMAIL PROTECTED]
