Occupational therapy in rheumatoid arthritis: what rheumatologists need to know?

Future of Rehabilitation Interventions for Rheumatic Patients in the Mediterranean Region

“…-Occupational Therapy: A beneficial effect of occupational therapy programs including lifestyle changes, joint protection, environmental modification, energy conservation, usage of orthoses and adaptive device on physical function has been demonstrated in a number of studies in rheumatic disease. 46 A Cochrane review demonstrated strong evidence for positive effect of occupational therapy on functional ability in patients with RA. 47 Also, more recently occupational therapy, dynamic exercises and hydrotherapy have been recommended in addition to pharmacological treatments by update of the EULAR recommendations for the management of early arthritis.…”

Arthritis/Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…Activity requirements such as work-house ergonomic conditions, tools and equipment should be assessed while assessing the factors that limit the individual's activities [6,26]. It should not be forgotten that during the evaluation of the activity, the symptoms that the individual struggles with may change day by day or day to day [23]. For instance, which activity increased the fatigue or pain, or when it is more intense, the way the individual follows in the fight with it should be evaluated [67][68][69][70].…”

“…It is related to low-and middle-income countries [10,15,16].Rheumatoid arthritis affects people's life balance and their ability to perform work, leisure, self-care, and rest and sleep decreased [17][18][19]. In addition, they lose values of activity for their life so feel anxious and depressed and influence their health related quality of life [20][21][22].Occupational therapist works with not only pain or symptoms management in rheumatoid arthritis but also the prevention of functional limitations and adaptation to lifestyle changes improve emotional state and social participation to maintain independence in daily living activities [11,19,23]. Occupational therapy (OT) interventions especially focus on improving occupational performance which is negatively affected by rheumatoid arthritis.…”

“…Occupational therapist works with not only pain or symptoms management in rheumatoid arthritis but also the prevention of functional limitations and adaptation to lifestyle changes improve emotional state and social participation to maintain independence in daily living activities [11,19,23]. Occupational therapy (OT) interventions especially focus on improving occupational performance which is negatively affected by rheumatoid arthritis.…”

Ergotherapie bei rheumatischen Erkrankungen

“…Einige Studien zeigen, dass die infolge der Erkrankung eintretenden Funktionsein-schränkungen inklusive Schmerzen bis hin zu Erschöpfungssymptomen, zu Einschränkungen der Arbeits-und Leistungsfähigkeit führen. Die Erwerbsfähigkeit kann gezielt durch ergotherapeutische Interventionen teils wiedererlangt oder deutlich verbessert werden [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”