Walk it OuT

Alex Coriell's Journey with ALS Henderson, W. (2018, February 1). Alex Coriell's journey with ALS. ALS News Today.  https://alsnewstoday.com/2018/02/01/alex-coriells-journey-with-als/?utm_source=ALS+News&utm_campaign=856209f0b7-RSS_FRIDAY_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0593028b75-856209f0b7-71721017     I watched this short documentary on an inspirational young man who had ALS. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a degenerative neurological disease that occurs when nerve cells break down and stop supplying the body with functionality. In Alex's experience he lost control of eating, walking, moving his arms, nose, etc. However he never lost joy. I chose this documentary for my second neuro note because I was curious about ALS and Alex's smile drew me in.  Throughout the process Alex used several different adaptive devices. As an OT student I appreciated seeing this equipment in a home/real-life se...

"How I'm Living My Best Life with Multiple Sclerosis" a ted talk by Robin Brockelsby.  Brockelsby, R. (2020, February). How I'm living my best life with multiple sclerosis [Video]. TED.  https://www.ted.com/talks/robin_brockelsby_how_i_m_living_my_best_life_with_multiple_sclerosis In this TED talk Robin Brockelsby describes her journey with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). I chose to research MS for this neuro note because I was assigned Alice (MS patient) for the multi media project. Also, I have a friend from high school who has battled MS for years and I wanted a better understanding of his diagnosis.  I learned that MS is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Robin explained that the immune system sees the brain, spine and optic nerves as the enemy. Moreover, the immune system attacks the nerves' protective sheath, myelin. Myelin helps propel the nerves signal on to its destination. Once it has become damaged the pathways slow down or are completely bl...

Social determinants of health are the circumstances in which people are born, live and work in that influence their health status. This includes a person’s socioeconomic status, employment, education, friend/family support, neighborhood, housing, physical environment, and access to healthcare. Social determinants of health are very relevant to health conditions involving the nervous system. Some examples could be carpal tunnel syndrome, traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke, etc. These conditions may be experienced as a result of a person’s social, behavioral and biobehavioral factors. Social factors could be income, education, culture, family/friend support. Behavioral factors might be diet, tobacco/alcohol use, physical activity, sexual practices, etc. Lastly, biobehavioral factors could be stress, psychological health, allostatic load, etc. For example, a person may have a stroke due to years of unhealthy behavioral choices. As Dr. Rishi Manchanda noted in ...

Comfort and independence are two of the most important reasons for ensuring the appropriate "fitting" for patients using assistive devices. If the assistive devices are not appropriately fitted they can cause pain or discomfort and may do more harm than good. The goal of using assistive devices would be to enhance independence in ADL's. The appropriate fit is necessary to accomplish this goal.  Here are a few examples of how adaptive devices should be fitted for patients to achieve optimal success in ADL's: To fit a patient with a cane the handle should be in line with the wrist crease, ulnar styloid or greater trochanter. Adjustments can be made by releasing the locking mechanism and pushing the button to move the cane to the correct height. The correct height will correspond to 20-30 degrees of elbow flexion.  For axillary crutches the length should be approximately the same length as the distance from the patients forearm to the finger-tips of the opposite h...

The order for restoring confidence in mobility skills based on increasing activity demands is a concept that therapists can use to determine where to start with a client who has decreased mobility. The base of the hierarchy is bed mobility, then mat transfers, wheelchair transfers, ADL bed transfer, functional ambulation for ADL, toilet and tub transfer, car transfer, functional ambulation for community mobility, and lastly community mobility and driving. The order of the sequence allows for the completion of one skill to be followed by a more difficult skill. As OT's we want to promote independence. This hierarchy sets the client up to achieve several goals on the road to recovery.  I like this approach because it can be useful for any level of mobility skill. If a client's baseline is ADL bed transfer we assume that bed mobility, mat and wheelchair transfers (if needed) have already been accomplished. I did most of my observation hours in a pediatric outpatient clinic wher...

With 80% of the population suffering from back pain at some point in their lives, it is important that we encourage proper posture and body mechanics through our practice. Faulty posture and body mechanics can lead to back pain which can worsen with unnecessary wear and tear. Explaining proper body mechanics to a client may improve their quality of life! Good body mechanics can prevent or correct problems with posture and protect your body from pain or injury.We can teach proper body mechanics such as bending at the knees rather then the hips when lifting objects from the floor. Another intervention would be to instruct the client on proper posture especially when sitting at a desk. It is easy to "slouch" while typing or writing at a desk. This puts a lot of stress on your cervical vertebrae. In pathology we learned about Wolff's law which states bone will adapt to the load under which it is placed. This explains why we may see a "hunchback" posture in some clie...

Education Connection Commercial Jingle circa 2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYS5NtRXlZQ   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYS5NtRXlZQ I can confidently say that I know every word to the education connection jingle from their 2009 commercial. The advertisement targets young people considering higher education. Their service helps people “find the right college for free.”   I was 12 years old when the commercial first aired. I can distinctly remember singing the jingle at school with my friends. It was a bop! The jingle in the commercial is easy to remember, catchy and repetitive. These elements allow the brain to make an emotional connection with the tune. When we hear it it has the same effect of listening to a song we know by heart. The part of the brain stimulated by music is the amygdala which is part of the limbic system. This area reacts emotionally to music by eliciting feelings of excitement, happiness, sadness, etc. The ventral tegmental area of the li...