Buffalo Occupational Therapy

10/28/2025

🌿 Occupational Therapy for Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD)

Corticobasal Degeneration is a rare neurodegenerative condition that affects both movement and cognition. In this case study, our OT team worked to preserve independence, optimize mobility, and enhance quality of life — even as the disease progressed.

🧠 Focus Areas:

Executive function & cognitive retraining

Upper extremity neuro rehabilitation

Balance and mobility training

Compensatory and adaptive strategies

Caregiver and home program education

💪 OT’s Lasting Impact:

Through proactive intervention and education, occupational therapy supported the client’s dignity, safety, and participation throughout the course of disease — demonstrating that even when cure isn’t possible, meaningful function is.

A special thanks to our Level 2 Fieldwork Student - Emily - for this awesome post! 😁

10/27/2025

Clinicians have an identity. We want the medical model. We want to be respected on the medical model. We will organize to make progress around the country. Let’s do it together 🤝

Voices are stronger when we know who has our back. The way forward is to unify our voice 🗣️

A century ago, one of our founders called on occupational therapists to organize our own voice—not to wait for the association to do it for us.

That time has come again.

The United States Occupational Therapy Clinician Coalition (OTCC) exists to unify clinicians and strengthen occupational therapy’s place within the medical model.

We advocate for recognition, reimbursement, and representation that reflect our true scope across the cognitive, psychosocial, and physical domains of care.
Together, we are the organized voice Kidner envisioned: clinicians standing as one for the science, integrity, and future of our profession.

10/24/2025

“How is it possible to work intelligently for a cure unless the condition to be cured is recognized and understood?”

More than a century ago, our founders warned against practicing therapy without understanding the diagnosis. They saw that intention — not activity — is what makes occupation therapeutic.

Knowing a diagnosis doesn’t limit us. It informs us. It sharpens our reasoning, strengthens our plan, and gives occupation its curative power.
Cure requires understanding.

10/20/2025

They’ll pay another credentialed provider to do the same service… but not the therapist who’s actually trained to do it.

Read that again.

“The skills of a therapist may also be furnished by an appropriately trained and experienced physician or NPP.”

That’s Medicare’s own language.

So when a doctor provides “therapy skills,” it’s covered.

But when an occupational therapist does — it’s questioned, audited, or denied.

This isn’t about “skill.” It’s about hierarchy.

It’s about a system that assumes therapy is less than medicine, even when the outcomes prove otherwise.

OTs aren’t assistants to the medical model.
We are clinicians. We are evidence-based.
We are skilled.

It’s time to start saying so — loudly.

🧠

10/19/2025

“The point is not to produce a good basket.”

In the early decades of occupational therapy, our founders fought hard to define the profession as curative, not sentimental. They warned that when therapy becomes diversion, and happiness becomes the goal, we lose our clinical power.

Occupational therapy was never meant to be “activity for the sake of doing.” It was the deliberate use of occupation as medicine — to reorganize the brain, rebuild movement, and restore function.

Our role is not to create joy, but to rebuild the capacity for it.

⚪️ Cure over craft.
⚪️ Intention over diversion.
⚪️ Capacity over comfort.

Let’s not forget what made this profession revolutionary in the first place.

09/13/2025

🧠✨ Cognitive load + inhibition = everyday executive function skills we all address in practice. Whether you’re supporting stroke recovery, brain injury, ADHD, or aging clients, teaching strategies to manage “mental overload” and filter distractions is KEY for participation.

📚 Try breaking it down:
➡️ Anchor focus to one task at a time
➡️ Pause + breathe before switching
➡️ Practice small task shifts
➡️ Slow down when overload hits

As OTs, we can make these invisible cognitive processes visible and give clients practical tools for success in real life. 💡🙌

08/30/2025

When your client’s weaker arm flexes as they stand, cough, or lift, that’s an associated reaction—automatic overflow during early motor relearning, not “trying to move.” Normalize it, protect safety, and shape it into function. 💪

Quick clinical cues:

🌬️ Exhale on effort to reduce overflow
🪑 Position & give proximal support
🤲 Use bilateral/symmetrical tasks
🖐️ Encourage open-hand/weight-bearing to dampen flexor synergy
⏱️ Grade the task & pace reps

OT

08/29/2025

08/28/2025

I love my job 😍🧠

I have met so many amazing professionals in this niche:

Neurologists and neuropsychologists
Physical Therapists (and assistants)
Speech Therapists (and Fellows)
Audiologists
Social workers - mental health specialists
Social Workers - Case managers
And so many more.

🤝 It takes a team to support the lives of those impacted my neurogenic diagnoses.

Although we all learn neuro in school, it’s an entirely different world in practice! And another layer? It looks different based on the setting you are in! How we practice and apply methods will change between settings, but our value doesn’t change.

OT plays a very unique role on a neurorehab team! Refining our skills and continuing to learn throughout our careers is an essential part of how our profession is valued in this space. 🧠 📚

08/25/2025

Muscle stiffness, jerks, or that “whole arm moves when I only want my hand” feeling after stroke? 🤔 It’s not just strength — it’s your brain’s control center (executive function) sending/ filtering signals. 🧠⚡️

What that can look like:
• 💥 Jerky “all-or-nothing” moves (poor inhibition)
• 🧱 Stiff, “stuck” positions (spasticity/synergy)
• 🔁 Trouble switching tasks (flexibility)
• 😮‍💨 Fast fatigue from over-recruiting muscles

OT helps retrain smoother, more precise movement with task-specific practice, targeted cueing, sensory priming, and dual-task training — focusing on signal quality, not just biceps curls. 💪➡️🧠

Focused and mindful sessions are sometimes more appropriate for recovery than moderate to high intensity!

08/21/2025

🚦 Why does spasticity happen after a stroke?

Think of your brain like a traffic controller 🚦—it tells your muscles when to move 🟢 and when to stay still 🔴.

After a stroke:
🧠 The brain areas that send smooth, controlled signals can be damaged.
🛑 The “braking system” that calms muscles doesn’t work as well.
📡 Another pathway takes over… but it sends too many signals.

👉 What does this mean?

It’s not just a muscle problem—it’s a brain signal problem.

Your body isn’t “refusing” to move—it’s reacting to mixed messages.

Skilled therapy helps refine those signals for better control.

💪 Outpatient rehab focuses on re-training communication between the brain & muscles—building smoother, safer movement over time.

✨ OT Takeaway: Spasticity isn’t stubbornness—it’s neurophysiology. Education empowers clients and families to understand the “why” behind therapy.