Rebecca Wolongevicz, MS, OTR/L, CHT, and Hanover native, is the newest addition to the Elliott Physical Therapy team. As a Certified Hand Therapist, Rebecca can treat issues ranging from fractures to chronic issues like carpal tunnel and beyond. We checked in with Rebecca to learn more about occupational therapy, how it works, and who can benefit from it.
What is Occupational Therapy and how does it differ from Physical Therapy?
Occupational therapy (OT) and Physical therapy (PT) have many similarities and overlaps in our education and approaches; however, a key difference is our overall focus. OTs will focus on your ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) whereas PTs may be more focused on your overall mobility and strength.
Both disciplines want to help you become as functional, safe, and independent as you need/want to be. OTs will want to know about any difficulty a person is experiencing with self-care tasks such as hygiene, bathing, dressing, toileting and feeding yourself, your ability to manage your household tasks such as cleaning, laundry, paying bills, and your ability to participate in school, caregiving tasks, driving, work activities, and hobbies/leisure activities. OTs can help determine the need for assistive devices, adaptive equipment and compensatory strategies to help you complete your ADLs.
What is your specialty in Occupational Therapy?
I am a Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) which is an additional board certification that OTs or PTs can acquire. In order to be eligible for the CHT exam, you must be an OT or PT for at least 3 years and document at least 4,000 working hours in the treatment of hand and upper extremity injuries and conditions.
I have been an OT since 2004 and a CHT since 2010. As a CHT, I work with individuals who have had traumatic injuries to their hand, wrist, elbow or shoulder, have repetitive strain injuries, were born with congenital disorders, and at times, neurological diagnoses such as CVA, ALS or Parkinson’s. CHTs can fabricate custom hand and upper extremity braces or splints called orthoses as part of our specialty.
Fun fact: there are only 7,322 CHTs in the world!
Who can benefit from Occupational Therapy?
Anyone struggling to function in their daily pattern of living can benefit from OT in some way, from birth to advanced age. OTs can help in a variety of settings including Early Intervention for children up to age 3, school based, outpatient pediatrics, low vision and driving specialty areas, home care, mental health settings, acute care rehabilitation, hospital settings, and outpatient (hand and neuro). Outpatient is, of course, my favorite and my area of expertise.
What kinds of issues do you see most in hand and upper extremity OT patients?
I see a lot of fractures, jammed fingers, and overuse strains of the elbow and shoulder. Nerve compression conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and cubital tunnel syndrome (which occurs at the elbow) are also common problems.
Computer use can frequently be the culprit for many posture and positioning problems that I see and treat, so having the proper ergonomic setup can be very important and preventative and something that I can address.
How can occupational therapy improve a patient's quality of life?
OT can improve a person’s quality of life because our job is to assess a person, their environment and the activities they need to do and identify where the dysfunction is occurring. When we can define the dysfunction, we can help create solutions for reducing or eliminating it.
This can help improve a person’s independence and create more purposeful living. A popular phrase for OT is “Skills for the job of living” and I really try to use that lens when working with people.
How can patients support their occupational therapy journey at home?
OTs are known for assigning home exercise programs and suggesting helpful equipment or environmental changes in your home. Follow through at home is extremely important for a person’s outcome.
Making your home program part of your daily routine can really maximize results from therapy and can often reduce or prevent future problems. We do not assign things for our own fun or to waste your time, I promise!
What is a common myth people have about occupational therapy?
People who are not familiar with OT often think it has to do with helping people find a job. That would likely be a vocational or career counselor. However, we OTs are perfectly happy to help you find ways to get back to work after injury or illness, whether mental or physical. Anything that “occupies” your time and is important to you, is important to us.
Family-owned and operated by Darryl and Patti Elliott since 2014, Elliott Physical Therapy is an outpatient orthopedic physical therapy company with nine locations in Massachusetts, including Hanover and Hingham. Focused on discovering and treating the underlying causes of injury and pain, expert clinicians at Elliott Physical Therapy use proven hands-on therapy and personalized home exercise programs to relieve your pain and improve your function. Learn more about Elliott Physical Therapy here.