The Lydian Center for Innovative Medicine :: Cambridge, Massachusetts

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational Therapy is a medical discipline, which uses purposeful activity to promote health and independent functioning in daily life roles. The pioneers of the profession believed that patients recuperated faster when they were actively engaged in tasks that incorporated both body and mind, such as in; games, exercise, handicrafts and work.

Today, Occupational Therapists work with people of all ages and stages of development and rehabilitation. Occupational Therapists commonly collaborate on multidisciplinary teams, in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, schools, homes, outpatient clinics, and community healthcare agencies.

How does it work?

Occupational Therapy assessment and remediation attempts to facilitate a balance between three main areas of occupation: work, play and self-care, while taking into consideration a person's physical, psychological and social environment. To maximize a person's overall functioning, treatment focuses on remediation of goals in gross and fine motor control, sensory integration, visual perceptual skills, motor planning, bilateral coordination, and adaptation to task or environment.

Who benefits?

Common diagnoses treated in Occupational Therapy include, but are not limited to:

Attention Deficit Disorder; ADHD
Autism
Asperger's Syndrome
Amputation
Apraxia
Arthritis
Attention deficit disorder
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Cerebral Palsy
CVA (stroke)
Developmental delays
Down's Syndrome
Fragile X
Head injury
Heart attack
Hemiparesis
Hip fracture
Learning disabilities
Low muscle tone
Quadriplegia
Sensory processing disorders
Shoulder and hand injuries
Spinal injury
Whiplash
Wrist injuries/fractures

Common presenting issues for infants and children:

Difficulty eating or sleeping
Delays in developmental milestones; such as in sitting, crawling, walking, or using tools
Decreased independence or avoidance of self feeding, dressing, and bathing
Difficulties in school; social, behavioral, academic; reading writing paying attention
Clumsy/ poor coordination
Difficulty with visual attention and tracking
Poor fine motor skills; difficulty manipulating small items
Poor gross motor skills; ball skills, play ground skills

Common presenting issues for adults:

Difficulty performing life's roles effectively; such as work, sleep, leisure tasks
Decreased independence in bathing, dressing, driving, cooking
Decreased range of motion; loss of movement abilities
Decreased strength, endurance, balance or coordination
Pain; neck, back, and joint pain
Decreased organizational skills
Difficulty with attention, concentration and relaxation

How is Lauri's approach different?

Lauri's Occupational Therapy services are greatly influenced by her practice of the Feldenkrais Method. In order to facilitate the client's independent functioning, Traditional Occupational Therapy treatment includes a combination of exercise, practice of the decreased skill area, adaptation of a task, and modification to the environment. In Lauri's practice, she includes Feldenkrais lessons, as part of the exercise and practice portion of the treatment session.

For example, when working with an adult who's presenting issue is neck and wrist pain exacerbated by computer use, Lauri may include a particular Feldenkrais lesson in addition to making suggestions for adapting the height of the chair and table. The Feldenkrais lesson would be designed to help the client be aware of sensing and feeling the different options for organizing the function of sitting, by coordinating legs, pelvis, spine, shoulders, head and neck.

An example of a lesson that Lauri might share with a child presenting with Cerebral Palsy also combines both disciplines. First, Lauri presents a relaxing Feldenkrais lesson allowing the child to let go of overworked muscles, and facilitate the child's body, to explore new options for organizing functional rolling, sitting or other movement. The session would then be completed with a functional activity such as putting on socks, or playing with a toy.

Occupational Therapy at the Lydian Center believes strongly in a collaborative model, where client and therapist work together to create appropriate challenges, select meaningful activities and attain reachable goals.