I think the earlier message presents good arguments for seeing the patient in question. However, it seems that this person is suggesting that advanced training qualifies her for doing the treatment.
But what about the rest of us OT's who do NOT have ortho expertise? And, what about referral sources? In my experience, most referral sources see OT's as UE ortho people, but that is NOT my expertise. So, once. What I'm trying to do is find "common ground" for phys dys OT so that AOTA promotes what we do and that we do what AOTA promotes. Thanks, Ron -- Ron Carson MHS, OT ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subj: [OTlist] Would You Treat For Refer to PT? cac> Does she?not lift?with her right shoulder because of the high cac> pain level?? If she lives alone how will she take her trash out?? cac> How will she load and unload her groceries from her car?? How cac> will she carry her laundry basket to her room to put her clothes cac> away?? Unless this lady has a fulltime maid, her life is a little cac> difficult right now.? Perhaps prompting the lady's memory isn't cac> such a bad idea, considering that her mind is probably focused on cac> her high pain level, and she is probably thinking to herself "Why cac> does this guy have to know that information, I just want him to cac> work on my arm", and she is giving you short answers, probably cac> unaware that you were going to DC her. ?I would start on goal cac> oriented compensation techniques to get her through her typical cac> IADLs and a restorative program for her shoulder involving cac> modalities, soft tissue mobilization around the coracoid process, cac> relaxation facilitation techniques for?the shoulder,?and a graded cac> therapeutic exercise program.? Based on AOTAs position papers cac> over the years, this is certainly an appropriate?approach.? What cac> is wrong with a bottom up approach starting with body functions cac> and gradually improving to graded functional activities when the cac> pain and the AROM improves significantly.? There is no way a cac> patient like this would improve based on a top down approach.? cac> She would learn to compensate, but from your evaluation it sounds cac> like she wants her pain to improve, and for her shoulder to cac> improve to her normal baseline.? Why in the world wouldn't a cac> skilled OT with orthopedic shoulder?experience take this case? cac> As OTs it is in our scope of practice to treat shoulders, knees, cac> backs, hips, whatever, from a compensation and a restorative cac> approach depending on the state in which you practice.? Now based cac> on our level of education I would not suggest diving into cac> restorative techniques for these areas unless you have cac> had?extensive training, and if your PT partner on the other side cac> of the clinic is working on the same thing.? Team work and cac> communication is the key for those situations. -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
