Dena Smith was in an accident where she suffered a bi-lateral humoral fracture and multipledeficits with bilateral upper extremities. Originally she participated in occupational therapy at home but wasn’t seeing any progress.
“They said it wasn’t getting any better,” Smith said. “So they wanted me to come on base to be able to get more extension and movement in my arms since I had the accident.”
Elaina Burden-Force was the occupational therapist who evaluated Smith when she arrived Burden-Force developed a comprehensive occupational therapy treatment plan when Smith arrived at Winn.
Burden-Force said both of Smith’s arms were mostly nonfunctional and she was dependent upon her spouse for assistance daily.
Force explained to Smith, the journey back to complete functionality will be an arduous one.
“They did all my measurements on my arms to see how much movement I could do,” Smith said. “Then they talked to me and told me what they were going to do and it was going to be a long process.”
During her first appointment one of the first hurdles that Smith had to overcome was her fear of pain.
“She had a lot of pain and she kept her arm and elbow flexed toward her body. She was fearful
to move her arms because of the pain,” Burden-Force said.
Staff Sergeant Tiara Jenkins worked alongside Burden-Force to help Smith grind through her problem areas.
“Pretty much our goal was just to get her initially to start really moving well,” Jenkins said. “Talking about shoulder movements, elbow movement, hand and wrist, hand dexterity, movement of her fingers and so on and so forth.”
Smith’s treatment started out with exercises that improve her mobility. They used heat wraps to help her with that goal.
“When I first came in I couldn’t even lift my arm that high and now I’m way up here,” Smith said. “They’ve loosened it up where I can move my arms a whole lot better than I did before.”
On the day that we visited with Smith, she was undergoing shoulder exercises to increase mobility and functionality of her shoulder.
“Were trying to get down some gross movements to increase the mobility so that she can function with things like putting on her clothes, showering, bathing those kinds of things,” Jenkins said.
For people who haven’t sustained an injury as severe as Smith, they may not understand the daily battle she goes through just to do something as routine as getting dressed for work.
“Especially when you’re an adult who’s lived so many years and you’re used to your routine,” Jenkins said. “You’re used to those habits that you’ve set up and then all of a sudden you have
something happen to you that prevent you from relying on those.”
Since starting her therapy the staff has seen strides in her mobility and her ability to accomplish her own routine.
“I thought I was never going to be able to move my arms again,” Smith said. “They’ve actually brought my spirits up because I actually look forward to coming to physical therapy.”
| Date Taken: | 08.02.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.02.2016 11:14 |
| Story ID: | 205801 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Winn Occupational Therapy helps patient move arms again, by Gustave Rehnstrom, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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