Occupational Therapy

The Department of Occupational Therapy at Sengkang General Hospital promotes health and well-being by supporting individuals to return to daily function and perform day-to-day meaningful activities revolving around self-care, leisure and productivity.

The team of Occupational Therapists work with individuals who experience physical disabilities, cognitive or psychiatric challenges either from birth or as the result of accident, illness or ageing. The primary goal is to enable these individuals to participate in meaningful activities in their own environment.

Occupational Therapists work with individuals with functional challenges to assess his/her abilities and weaknesses and design a treatment programme based on their needs and preferences. Therapy usually involves carefully set-up activities to enhance the individual's physical, cognitive or psychosocial abilities, or in-depth discussions on environmental modifications and assistive devices that will help the individual participate in meaningful activities in a more efficient way. Caregiver training may also be done to enhance the individual's participation in meaningful activities post-discharge.

Our Clinical Services

Neuro-rehabilitation

Neurological rehabilitation is targeted at individuals who are recovering from neurological conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's diseases, etc. Through occupational therapy, it aims to normalize movements, reduce and/or manage symptoms, improve functional abilities and hence enhance the quality of life of the individual.

Apart from working with individuals and their caregivers to rehabilitate physical and cognitive impairments in the wards, occupational therapists also follow up with individuals in the outpatient clinics to continue reintegrating them into the community and back to work.

Upper limb rehabilitation

The role of occupational therapy in upper limb rehabilitation is to optimize the functional use of an individual's hand and arm, helping him/her get back to daily activities in the most independent way. Therapists work with individuals with various upper limb injuries (fractures, lacerations, amputations, tendon injuries etc.) or acquired conditions (arthritis, carpal tunnel, trigger finger, epicondylitis etc.).

Geriatric rehabilitation

Older adults may face cognitive, physical and psychosocial challenges due to a myriad of chronic and/or acute medical conditions. The geriatric rehabilitation team works with these older adults and family caregivers to empower them to engage in their meaningful occupations at home with necessary support from community resources as well.

For individuals living with dementia, occupational therapists may also aim to maintain or improve the individual's cognitive and physical status through cognitive stimulation and rehabilitation programmes while working with family caregivers to devise strategies for care at home.

Home-based rehabilitation is also carried out for individuals who have difficulties travelling to the hospital for outpatient treatment and will benefit from therapeutic interventions in the home environment.

Orthopedic rehabilitation

Occupational therapists work with individuals with orthopaedic conditions and may have gone through orthopaedic surgeries, such as knee replacement, hip replacement, fixation, etc. Common conditions seen by the orthopaedic rehabilitation team include spinal cord injury, traumatic and pathological fractures etc.

After a surgery or an injury, individuals may be educated on specific precautions to take and how these precautions will affect their daily lives after discharge. During the period of recovery, the occupational therapist may work with the individuals to equip them with skills and devices to continue engaging in meaningful activities while regaining their musculoskeletal functions.

Oncology rehabilitation

Occupational therapy in oncology rehabilitation is tailored to individuals living with cancer, addressing common issues such as fatigue, pain, and psychosocial needs. They also collaborate closely with these individuals to identify the roles and activities that are meaningful and purposeful to them to facilitate their abilities to perform their daily activities and maintain a good quality of life.

Mental health rehabilitation

Occupational Therapists work with individuals with psychiatric conditions to integrate them back into their daily occupations in the community. They work in groups or individual sessions to:

• Teach and support active use of coping strategies to manage symptoms including being more organised and engaged in a choice of activities;
  
• Identify and implement healthy habits, rituals and routines to support wellness lifestyle by addressing barriers and building on existing abilities;
  
• Support the creation and use of a wellness recovery action plan in a group or individual sessions, and through caregiver training;
  
• Support the engagement in long-term planning skills e.g. money management, self-management, that leads to meeting personal recovery goals;
  
• Support reintegration back into the community through the exploration of community-based resources and outpatient services.
  

Low vision rehabilitation

This team of occupational therapists work closely with individuals living with visual impairments, mostly caused by neurological impairments, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, glaucoma, etc. Together with optometrists and ophthalmologists, occupational therapists empower individuals with visual impairment with skills to return to their daily living, especially with vision-dependent tasks such as reading, writing, choosing appropriate clothing, medication administration, mobility within familiar environment and in the community etc.

Post-mastectomy and lymphedema services

The post-mastectomy rehabilitation team provides inpatient individual/group therapy arm care education and arm exercises, for people with breast cancer who have undergone a mastectomy and/or breast reconstruction surgery. Outpatient therapy follow-up is also provided upon discharge to monitor the development of lymphedema and ensure good functional shoulder range. 

Early intervention and good management of lymphedema are important as it can help to improve one's quality of life and participation in activities of daily living. Therapists trained and certified in Dr Vodder's Manual Lymph Drainage and Combined Decongestive Therapy work with the individuals for the management of lymphedema.