The Life of a BrOT

For my second neuro-note, I chose to watch the movie "The Upside" starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston. In this movie, Hart plays the role of an ex-convict who is out on parole and needs to find a job. He eventually winds up working as a “life auxiliary” caregiver for a wealthy man who is a quadriplegic (Cranston). Some of the reasons why I chose this movie include wanting to learn more about spinal cord injury (SCI) and how fast one can occur, and I wanted to learn about how an OT would make an impact on someone who has sustained an injury like this.  As I was watching the movie, Cranston’s character reveals to Hart’s that he was in a paragliding accident that caused his spinal cord injury, in turn leaving him quadriplegic. A spinal cord injury is classified as damage to any part of the spinal cord or nerves at the end of the spinal canal that can be caused from a sudden, traumatic blow that fractures or dislocates vertebrae. In doing research I found that motor vehicle...

     For this first neuro-note I chose to watch the movie "Concussion" starring Will Smith. In the movie, Smith portrays Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist, who discovers that professional football players develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) after experiencing repeated concussions throughout their years of playing football. There are a few different reasons why I chose this movie, the first reason being that I have always wondered why my parents told me that playing football was dangerous growing up. The second reason is that we are covering Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI's) in my Neuro Aspects of Occupational Performance class, and I wanted to gain insight as to what happens when a person experiences a concussion.      When a football player makes helmet to helmet contact with another player, the force of the impact can be up to 100+ g forces on the head. This incredible amount of force causes the brain to experience a coup-countercoup im...

          As an occupational therapist, you will come across clients who need to be fit with an assistive device. It is our job to make the client as comfortable as possible during and after the fitting as they will be using the device for an extended period of time. It is important to fit each client appropriately so that we may increase their safety when using the device and increase their confidence and comfort to perform everyday movements. If the client is not fit properly, this can cause misuse of the device and increase fall risk and injury to the client. In regards to comfort, the client will most likely be using this device every day. If they are not comfortable using this device, then it may decrease their confidence level in being able to perform certain activities and increase the risk of injury.           Canes are the least stable device you can give a client, but allow for the most freedom and are very inexpensive. To fi...

          The order for restoring confidence in mobility will always depend on what activity the client is trying to be able to perform. This hierarchy of mobility skills starts at the most basic and progresses into more complex mobility patterns. The first skill which is the most basic is bed mobility. This is when a client can move around in the bed to relive pressure or switch positions when they want to while laying down. I agree that this skill should be learned first since it is the most basic skill and one of the most important. The next 4 skills are mat transfer, wheelchair transfer, bed transfer, and functional ambulation for ADL. I agree with this order because a client needs to learn how to perform a basic mat transfer so that they know how to move their bodies before moving to more complex transfers. I also agree that the client should learn these basic transfers before learning to complete ADLs so that they can be able to gain more independence. The...

Have you ever experienced lower back pain or just back pain in general? If so, you are totally not alone. It is speculated that almost 80% of the adult population will experience low back pain at some point in time. This pain is a result of the repeated daily stress placed on your back from poor posture, faulty body mechanics, stress, lack of flexibility, lack of muscle tone, and a plethora of other things! It is important to teach clients about proper posture and body mechanics to reduce their risk of injury, to help them perform simple ADL's, to ensure proper lifting techniques, and to increase their mobility in their everyday lives. Improper body mechanics can limit mobility and cause injury, resulting in pain and in turn limiting peoples' ability to perform ADLs. Conversely, proper body mechanics can allow people to perform ADLs with maximal efficiency and mobility, and reduced risk of injury in doing so. These are just a few of the reasons and examples that proper posture ...

          The advertisement that I thought of for this post aired around March of 2019. It was a trailer for the movie Avengers Endgame. This trailer really excited me for the movie and the end of a movie era that spanned over 10 long years. Every time I re-watch the trailer I get chills, a huge grin, increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and get invigorated to watch the movie. One part of my nervous system that is being activated when I watch this, is my sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is a part of the autonomic nervous system that can bring out a "fight-or-flight" response in our bodies when we perceive danger or an increase of external stimuli that we normally do not encounter. When I am watching this movie trailer all of the input I see goes straight to my amygdala, which is responsible for perception of emotions, and then triggers my hypothalamus to release hormones in my body. The hypothalamus is like the brains server when it come...

            The story, “Man from the South,” was very intriguing and kept me on my toes as I was reading it. Had the soldier lost the bet and lost his pinky finger, his world would have been forever changed. He would have lost a great deal of grip strength as a result of his pinky finger being chopped off. While the soldier would still be able to perform pinch tasks by using his thumb, index, and middle fingers to pinch and grab things, he would have a hard time grasping objects with the entirety of his hand. For example, he would have a hard time grasping an ice-cold cylindrical glass of beer and he would have reduced grip strength when it came to grasping the pull-up bar to perform a necessary exercise for the navy fitness test. Also, say the soldier loves to play golf when he is off duty, without the grip strength of both pinky fingers around the grip of the club, he would not be able to swing at full speed with the same amount of accuracy as he could b...