Posture and Body Mechanics

It is important to teach proper posture and body mechanics to a client who has faulty posture for several reasons. Most back pain is a result of faulty posture and poor body mechanics. By teaching proper posture and body mechanics, the therapist is educating the client on preventing back pain. Clients need to understand proper posture and body mechanics to avoid possible injury, thus, hindering their careers, increasing the time that the client is away from work, and pain. In 2016, the back was reported as being the most frequent injury. Therefore, work related injuries can be costly, leading to expensive medical and lawyers bills. If the client understands proper posture and body mechanics, they are less likely to face injury, miss work, and face expensive medical costs. Back pain could also be from lack of exercise, poor nutrition, stressful situations, smoking, and lack of proper rest. Thus, it is important for occupational therapists to teach their clients on proper posture and body mechanics before injury occurs. An example of a way that I might teach proper posture and body mechanics in an intervention would be teaching my client the slouch-overcorrect technique. This technique is used to improve someone’s posture while sitting. After learning the procedure, the client can practice the slouch-overcorrect technique in the comfort of their own home. Another way that I would teach my client would be instructing them on the golfer’s lift. The golfer’s lift reduces strain on the back and allows the spine to stay straight. The golfer’s lift is used to pick up light objects off of the floor, while still maintaining correct posture and preventing injury.

Advertisements and the Human Nervous System

An advertisement that I have seen that really stuck out to me was one involving two patients at St. Jude. The advertisement asked for donations to help fight childhood cancer, which would contribute to helping the two children with cancer on the advertisement. In order to remember this advertisement, I used my episodic memory, which helped me identify personal illustrations of my life experiences. One aspect of the human nervous system that is primarily involved in my response to this advertisement is my amygdala. The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped part of the brain that is responsible for the emotional implication behind my memories. Additionally, located in the temporal lobe, the hippocampus is another part of the brain where long-term memories are stored and also connect with emotion. Moreover, the hippocampus is involved in the “what” implication of my episodic memory. Both the hippocampus and amygdala are a part of the limbic system, which would motivate me to donate to St. Jude. Next, I would use my prefrontal cortex (PFC), located in the frontal lobe, to make the decision to donate money towards the advertisement. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for executive functions, planning, problem solving, and decision-making. Moreover, the prefrontal cortex takes in emotional and sensory information in order to make a decision and plan of action. After I make a donation and receive a reward (receiving a letter that displayed how my donation helped fight cancer and an item from the St. Jude gift shop) the positive impact on my contribution motivates me to donate again. Dopamine influences the synapses in the reward pathway, so I anticipate a reward and continue to donate. Now, I have a reward pathway that activates the neurotransmitter, dopamine, each time I see a St. Jude advertisement.

"Man from the South"

I enjoyed reading a portion of “Man from the South” by Roald Dahl. During this literary segment, a man made a bet with an American solider. The bet was whether or not the soldier could light his lighter ten times running. The man told the solider that if the soldier won the bet, he would gain the man’s Cadillac. At the end of the story, the audience understood that the Cadillac was not really the man’s car, it was his wife’s car. However, if the soldier lost, the soldier’s little finger on his left hand would be cut off with a chopping knife. Moreover, losing the bet would change the soldier’s daily routine and occupations.

The soldier’s grasp would be negatively affected, and he would lose the majority of strength in his left hand. He would not be able to achieve intrinsic plus, and he would not have deep functioning of the ulnar nerve. More specifically, the soldier’s lateral grip would be affected when he holds a cigarette. In this case, smoking would be a leisure occupation that would be greatly affected by the loss of the little finger. Based on the reading, the soldier seemed to enjoy the leisure occupation of swimming as well. If the soldier lost the bet, swimming would also be affected. His ulnar nerve would be majorly impacted and would affect the pull and strength of his swimming strokes. The soldier would need to make modifications to his daily routine in order to compensate for the loss. Also, he may need to learn new ways to engage in the occupations that he needs or wants to do. As a solider, his daily routine may include shooting guns. In this case, his grip would also be affected by the loss of his little finger, while stabilizing and holding a gun.

After reading the article, “Occupation-based Hand Therapy and the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework” by Deborah Amini, one strategy to help the soldier regain his independence for swimming would be physical agent modalities (PAMs). The outcome that this would support would be returning to functional movement by providing pain management.

As for the wife of the man betting against the solider, she had already lost some of her fingers. In fact, she only had two fingers on one of her hands. Daily occupations that would be affected by the loss of her fingers would include driving her Cadillac, washing her hair, and preparing meals. Specifically, the occupation of driving would be affected by the loss of her fingers. Equipment that would help the wife regain independence would be adaptive driving aids such as hand controls. The outcome that this IADL would address would be the modification for functional independence.