After any Surgery, one of the hardest parts of returning to feeling like your normal self is strengthening the wounded area. If there is no effort to strengthen your body after an injury that requires surgery can leave you feeling weak, lack energy, and helpless. This is why occupational therapy is extremely important for people recovering from surgery. At OKC Home Health, we focus on our patients by strengthening their upper bodies and helping them learn to safely complete tasks of daily living following surgery.
In 2011, I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis that required me to have two rods and seventeen screws put in my back to straighten out my spine. The surgery lasted about 7 hours and kept me in the hospital for over a week. This surgery completely turned my life up side down because of the severe pain the surgery brought to me. Not only was the pain substantial, but I then had to relearn how to do simple tasks that I’ve always known how to do. For about a month after, it felt like I was constantly walking on a balance beam. When ever I dropped something or had to pick something off the floor it felt like I was stuck and unable to pick anything up. It left me feeling hopeless, weak, uncomfortable, a like a burden to the people around me. Until I started going to OKC Restore Home Health for occupational therapy. With their amazing nurses I was able to strengthen by body and relearn how to carry out daily tasks that I never thought would be a struggle to do. After going through the therapy process, I was able to gain confidence in my self and realize that my surgery wasn’t going to hold my down any longer. I quickly became who I was before my surgery and in many ways I had become stronger and healthier than before. It goes without saying that after any major surgery that life after surgery may never be the same. The feeling of pain when the temperature changes or when it’s about to rain causes aching in places that have metal in them. This doesn’t mean that life can’t get better after a surgery. For about a year leading up to my surgery I slept on the floor because the ground felt much better to lay on then my bed. I struggled with severe migraines because of the curvature in my back. Once I had my surgery, the migraines started to go away and be less and less frequent. Sleeping in my bed became one of the greatest things and I was able to get quality sleep to be restored for the next day. Throughout my entire journey to recovery. I realized how important therapy was to returning to normalcy and becoming a healthier and happier person.
One of the biggest benefits to occupational therapy is strengthening the body and learning new skill that will help prevent patients from returning to the hospital. If patients stay still or in a bed for too long following a surgery it can cause more harm that the underlying problem. Infections of the injured area can occur and difficulties regaining balance and posture are all problems with not being active after a surgery. Muscles are extremely weak and sore following a surgery do to the trauma they had just gone through. They begin to waste away and deteriorate due to the lack of exercise and activity. Occupational therapy works to help strengthen muscles, joints and ligaments to prevent patients from having to return to the hospital. The majority of patients who have had to return to the hospital following surgery haven’t been properly trained to strengthen their bodies to prevent accidents from happening. The loss of muscle strength and balance has led patients to fall, sprain or fracture parts of their bodies. This has led to countless number of patients to return to the hospital prolonging their return to their better self.
Regaining independence is another major benefit to occupational therapy. I always felt like a huge burden to my family after my surgery because I needed help doing just about everything. I had difficulties getting out of bed. I had to have someone walk with me going up and down the stairs in cause I lost my balance. Even carrying objects around the house like getting a pan to cook a meal with. I was constantly needing somebody to do simple tasks for me or having to have somebody next to me while I did do something. Occupational therapy allowed me to achieve these tasks and improved my confidence in myself and restored my independence. With the help of OKC Home Health and their nurses, they were able to walk me through the recovery process by giving me daily exercises that would strengthen my back along with the rest of my body. Exercises included swimming, planking, walking, using elliptical machines, balancing on one leg and much more. The services provided my OKC Home Health helped me from ever returning to the hospital due to my back or any injuries that my back caused. They also helped regain my confidence and independence. The nurses showed me that not being able to return to my former self wasn’t a bad thing. That I had the power through therapy and hard work to become a stronger, healthier version of my former self. OKC Restore Home Health can do the same for you.
For any questions about OKC Home Health or any of their services. Call (405) 608-5363 or visit their website at restorehomehealth.care. Follow their instagram page @restorehhc and Facebook by searching Restore Home Healthcare of Oklahoma in the search bar.

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