How Occupational Therapy Helps with Memory Loss

Occupational therapy can help people at all stages of life develop, maintain, or recover the skills they need to perform daily activities, especially following an injury or illness. For patients suffering from memory loss due to age, stroke, or early stages of dementia, occupational therapy provides significant mental benefits as well, helping patients continue to live independent and productive lives.

What is occupational therapy?

Illness, injury, or memory loss can interfere with a patient’s ability to care for themselves at home, complete household chores, and participate in regular daily activities. Occupational therapy teaches patients how to adapt by altering movements or incorporating assistive devices. While physical therapy focuses on improving general mobility and function, occupational therapy focuses on helping patients perform daily tasks more easily, including:

• Bathing

• Toileting

• Dressing

• Eating

• Personal hygiene

• Basic meal preparation

• Home management

• Social participation

• Hobbies

Occupational therapy for adultsMost adults suffer from some degree of memory loss as they age, which can be accelerated if diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia. Occupational therapists evaluate patients to determine their strengths and impairments, and identify any performance areas needing intervention. While full recovery of cognitive abilities is unlikely, occupational therapists work with patients to develop routines that minimize the impact of memory loss or confusion, and create compensating strategies that allow patients to participate in many daily activities. 

Occupational therapy for stroke patients

Memory loss is a common symptom of stroke, but just like exercising muscles can help improve mobility after a stroke, exercising the mind through occupational therapy is a significant part of the recovery process. Occupational therapists also help patients learn coping strategies with the use of visual aids or mnemonic devices, which are creative mental techniques to help remember things. Other strategies include breaking activities into small steps to make them more manageable and developing compensation strategies to participate in activities as fully as possible.

Examples of occupational interventions for memory loss

After conducting a full evaluation to determine a patient’s strengths and impairments, occupational therapists will create a customized program of interventions that often include some combination of the following:

• Health promotion: with a focus on maintaining strengths and promoting wellness

• Remediation: incorporating routine exercises to improve performance and mobility in daily activities

• Maintenance: providing support for habits and routines that are working well and can be maintained to prolong independence

• Modification: ensuring safe and supportive environments through adaptation and compensation

Benefits of occupational therapy for memory loss

With a comprehensive approach to treatment that goes beyond memory-specific challenges, occupational therapy for patients with memory loss provides several benefits. Occupational therapists can help patients manage their home life and participate in social activities. If home modifications are needed, therapists can also determine which modifications are best to ensure safety and optimum participation in daily life. Occupational therapy helps restore physical skills that aid memory recovery and adaptation. Studies have shown that these therapeutic interventions can have a significant impact on mental health and overall wellness. 

Occupational therapy for memory loss in San Diego

At Bella Vista Health Center, our occupational therapists and support staff are dedicated to improving the functional ability and quality of life for our patients in the relaxing, compassionate environment of our 5-Star Skilled Nursing Facility. If you or a loved one is in need of occupational therapy for memory loss following a stroke or due to the onset of dementia, Bella Vista can help. For more information or to schedule a tour of our facility, call us at (619) 399-7920.

What is Biofeedback and Why is it Useful?

 In the context of your career, feedback from supervisors helps to improve your performance and increase your chances of promotion. And in the context of your health, obtaining useful information and signals from your own body can improve your physiological performance. Biofeedback therapy has been around since the 1960s, and continued research has shown we have more control over our bodily functions than once thought possible. Here’s how biofeedback therapy might be able to help you:

Biofeedback: Already part of your life

Have you ever used a thermometer to check for a fever or stepped on a scale to see what you weigh? The information you receive is actually considered biofeedback, and you can use it to improve your condition by taking medicine and drinking extra fluids for a fever, or adopting a new diet if you’re a few pounds overweight. The complex biofeedback machines used by doctors and clinicians can reveal even more information, detecting internal biological functions with sensitivity and precision.

A wealth of information

A wide range of specialists use biofeedback therapy, including physical therapists, internists, nurses, dentists, psychiatrists, and psychologists. Some of the medical ailments that can be treated with biofeedback include chronic pain, high and low blood pressure, tension and migraine headaches, incontinence, digestive disorders, cardiac arrhythmia, and mobility disorders. 

Tapping into a “sixth sense”

Biofeedback therapy is not magic—it cannot cure diseases. But biofeedback machines act as a kind of “sixth sense,” allowing patients to “see” or “hear” bodily activity. The most common types of biofeedback therapy fall into these categories:

• Thermal biofeedback: measures skin temperature
• Electromyography: measures muscle tension 
• Neurofeedback: measures brain wave activity

While measuring, the machine picks up thermal, electrical, or neurological indicators and translates them into detectable signals like a flashing light or audible beep. For example, a biofeedback machine picking up the electrical signal of a tensing muscle allows the patient to make adjustments, like changing positions or breathing slower, in order to relieve the tension.

The power of thoughts and feelings

Most feedback therapy involves learning how to adjust and relax, and to identify circumstances known to trigger symptoms. Patients are taught how to cope with stress, change habits, and gain self-control, because while thoughts and feelings are technically relegated to the mind, they can have a profound effect on a patient’s physical health. 

Think of the “fight or flight” response: when someone perceives danger, panic triggers the sympathetic nervous system to prepare the body for an emergency by ramping up adrenaline (to run or attack), dilating pupils (to let in more light for better visibility), and contracting blood vessels (to reduce potential bleeding).

These are very real physical responses stimulated by the brain’s perception of what is happening.  

Reducing the impact of stress

Sometimes that “fight or flight” response is triggered by non-emergency situations, like fighting with a spouse, getting reprimanded by a boss, or being cut off by another driver on the road. But when the body is repeatedly stressed by triggered responses, certain bodily functions can become overactive and potentially result in damage to body tissues. Biofeedback can change habitual reactions to stress by helping patients recognize triggers and revert to a relaxed state.

Improved recovery outcomes

In the case of stroke patients and others with conditions affecting mobility, biofeedback can work as skill training to recover the use of arms and legs. Watching signals from still-active parts of the affected limbs can guide an exercise regimen that will help regain use. Even something as simple as reassurance that the limbs are still active in any capacity is encouragement enough to continue recovery efforts.

Bella Vista Health Center can help

At the Bella Vista Health Center, we offer a variety of services and physical therapy programs that are designed to relieve pain, restore function, and enhance health—including biofeedback therapy. Our patient-centered approach focuses on each person’s needs, and you can count on quality care by skilled and compassionate professionals who are dedicated to the health and well-being of every resident. For more information on our services, give us a call today, or drop by our 5-star facility in Lemon Grove.