Posture & Body Mechanics

As occupational therapists, we have a dual responsibility to our clients. We must teach them the proper principles when lifting, reaching, bending and pulling and pushing and we must provide modifications to tasks to promote good body mechanics and alignment. It is important to teach clients about proper posture and body mechanics because in 2016, the back was the most common body part to be injured. It is also known that 8 out of 10 adults will have low back pain at some point in their life. This back pain, that 80% of people will experience, is caused by poor posture, faulty body mechanics, stressful work habits and a general lack of physical fitness. Once you have injured your back, it has been reported that 90% of back pain is recurrent, so it will continue to bother you. However, it is shown that when using ideal body alignment and posture, there is a muscular and skeletal balance, optimal functioning of the organs and minimizes the risk of progressive deformity.   

To teach clients about the proper body mechanics I would explain the importance of knowing the correct way of lifting objects safety by keeping the objects as close as possible, keeping a straight back, using leg muscles instead of back muscles and taking multiple trips to lighten the load. I would demonstrate how to do this, have them practice and then print a worksheet that they could have to remind them of the steps of proper lifting. I also teach them the slouch-overcorrect technique to demonstrate ideal sitting posture by demonstrating it and then having them practice it as well. This will inform the client on how to get into the ideal sitting posture and how it should feel. Along with the proper sitting posture I would let them know of modifications that can help maintain this posture like pillows, towels or ergonomic chairs. It is also important to educate clients on how important maintaining a healthy body weight is and exercising regality is to decreasing their risk of injury!  

What Commercials do to My Nervous System

     Whenever you sit down to watch a show or game on T.V., it is a known fact that there will be commercials. Commercials about food, cars, phones and games. Some commercials you've never seen before and some you feel like are being played on repeat. But for me, there is always one commercial that I will never forget and always sticks out and that is the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) commercial. These commercials have been the same for as long as I can remember, they play a slow sad song and show you pictures and videos of dogs, cats and other animals that have been mistreated and are looking at you so sad. It breaks my heart every single time. This commercial sticks out to me because I have been raised as an animal lover. I have never lived a day without having some sort of pet living in my house and I wouldn't have it any other way. So in terms of my nervous system, there are numerous things going on when I see this commercial. First in my brain's temporal lobe, which is responsible for my hearing and musical awareness. I hear that song and I automatically recognize it and link it to the sad pictures of animals. Another part of my brain that is affected is my Limbic System, specifically my hippocampus. These brain structures are associated with my long term memory especially those with strong emotional ties. So, every time I see or hear this commercial I will always remember those sad looking faces and the sadness and hurt I feel for those animals.

Do you really need your pinky finger?

     "Man from the South" is a story that follows a bet between an older South American man and a young navel cadet. The bet was that if the young cadet could light his lighter 10 times in a row, the older man would give him a Cadillac. But, if not he would have to cut off his little finger on his left hand. At first the cadet was unsure of this bet, but eventually agreed because he didn't have any use for his little finger. As the story goes on, the tension builds about who would lose this very risky bet but right before light number 10 a women appears and stops the bet. This women is the older man's wife and is very upset with him and apologized to the cadet. She explains that this has happened many times and she has had to make up for his mistakes. She shows her hand which has only one finger and a thumb.
     If the wife never saw this bet and the young cadet would have lost, multiple aspects of his life would have been affected. First, the fact that one of his main occupations is being a cadet which would involve being able to handle all of his gear and firearms. With a missing little finger, the cadet would experience decreased hand mobility and decreased overall hand strength. This would negatively affect how he held a firearm and the control that he had over this equipment and even how he got dressed in his uniform daily. He also would have lost some ability and ease to perform leisure activities with the other cadets like going swimming or having a drink. A strategy that can be used to help this could include an adapted gun that had extra support and made it easy for the cadet to handle and also hand and finger strengthening exercises to help compensate for the missing digit.
     As for the wife, she is missing 3 of 5 digits on one of her hands and therefore is missing significant amounts of strength and ability to perform fine motor and daily tasks! We do not know much about her and her occupations but there are numerous ADL activities that she would need assistance doing. One strategy would be adapting some of her everyday things like her hairbrush, toothbrush and utensils to wrap around her wrist of have grips for her one finger and thumb to fit into so that the hand manipulation and strength would not be needed. Overall, this young cadet got very lucky that someone came and stopped this bet! Even though he did not know it at the time, his little finger is used in just about all hand and finger activities. He would have lost in hand manipulation skills, ROM and strength! This would have changed the way he had learned to live his life and he would have to learn all new strategies and techniques to adapt!