Neuro Note 4



     For this neuro note, I am writing a reflection of my experience attending the Memphis Rolling Grizzlies' basketball practice. Our class was given the opportunity to sit in and watch their practice. While they are in their offseason, they scrimmaged for around two hours. After their practice was over, they brought out additional wheelchairs for us to get in and try out playing wheelchair basketball. I chose to write about this experience because I gained invaluable knowledge about adaptive sports and spinal cord injuries. One thing I took away from attending the practice was the value of social interaction with people who know what you are going through. I could tell that the team members were all very close and had really good relationships with each other, including the coach who was also in a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury. It is important as a future practitioner to encourage our clients to remain socially active, especially with individual's who are in similar circumstances as themselves. I also learned that the wheelchairs used in basketball are very specialized and are typically only used when playing the sport. I would imagine that it can get very expensive having to purchase two different chairs for everyday use and sport use. We need to keep this in mind if we work with clients who have had a spinal cord injury and are wanting to play wheelchair basketball. There may need to be some fundraising or other support raised for an individual wanting a wheelchair that allows the user to play sports, especially wheelchair basketball. Additionally, I learned that wheelchair basketball is an excellent way to keep people in a wheelchair very physically active. I was amazed at the upper body strength and cardiorespiratory endurance shown by the team members while they were scrimmaging! This activity would be great to keep in mind when working with clients who are trying to find a way to remain active and engage in sports even though they may have lost the ability to use their legs. I would recommend going to a practice for anyone! This activity was inspiring, engaging, and a wonderful learning opportunity. Both the coach and players were all very willing to answer any and all the questions we had which was humbling and very gracious of them. Thank you, Professor Lancaster, for setting up this learning activity!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Media Project

Image
     The media project was such a fun, interactive way to learn about adapting, creating, and being innovative through an OT lens! One thing that I learned from this assignment is that as a (future) occupational therapist, you sometimes have to be creative and think outside the box for your clients. For example, my client had challenges with certain ADLs, shopping, and opening food packages. While I could not think of a way to directly use straws to adapt these activities, I took a different perspective by looking at the performance skills required to complete these activities which made me think of fine motor skills, range of motion, and strength. I knew my client enjoyed decorating, so I was able to creatively use straws to improve the skills required to complete the activities she was struggling with while also being client-centered and occupation-based. After completing this project, I realized that OTs can be very resourceful by using everyday objects as adaptive equipment or as
Read more

Life Balance Model

     I chose to look into the Life Balance Model developed by Kathleen Matuska. This would fall under an occupational therapy model of practice (MoP). The idea behind this model is that life balance can be achieved when an individual participates in activities that are meeting their basic physical needs, that are rewarding and include self-affirming relationships with other people, are engaging, challenging, and make the individual feel competent, and establish meaning and identity to that individual. This is all included in the individual's context and environment. This model is applicable for all populations (all ages and all disabilities, or no disability). "Functional" according to this theory would be that an individual does participate in activities in their daily life that allow them to have life balance (according to the aspects of life balance listed above). An occupational therapist could measure stress or life satisfaction (using a questionnaire) because the th
Read more

Era Presentations

     Based on the information presented in the era presentations, I found a common theme among all of the decades- that the field of occupational therapy has and will continue to evolve. Over the last few decades, occupational therapy has not only grown as a profession, but it has accommodated the ever changing needs of society. Especially post-war and after the deinstitutionalization movement began, there became a growing need to accommodate individuals living with both physical and psychological disabilities. Looking into the future, I can foresee the field of occupational therapy continuing to adapt to changes in society as it has done since the beginning. Our society has more access to adaptive technology than ever before. Additionally, the baby boomers are starting to age and retire while the younger generation is suffering more from psychological issues. This will also shape what occupational therapy will look like in the future.
Read more