Announcing Arthritis Life!
I am proud to launch Arthritis Life: a video project featuring life hacks, patient stories, provider interviews, product reviews and more. Check out my Youtube channel trailer above! My mission is to educate, empower and inspire patients with arthritis and their providers through sharing life hacks and personal stories. Interested in participating in this project or learning more? If you are a patient or provider who’s interested in being interviewed, please contact me via the contact page above. Please let me know if you have any requests for life hack video topics! Please subscribe to my Youtube Channel so you’ll be the first to know about new video uploads. If…
Strategies for Neurotypical People to Develop Empathy for Autistic People
Historically, there has been much discussion about the extent to which autistic people experience empathy. I am using the phrase “autistic people” rather than “people with autism,” per the recommendation from the Autism Self-Advocacy Network. Recent studies indicate that while autistic people may experience and demonstrate empathy in different ways from neurotypical people, they do indeed experience it, sometimes to intense degrees. The debate is well summarized here. Throughout this discussion, I have observed a curious and glaring omission: what about how and whether neurotypical people empathize with autistic people? One of the basic tenets of social skills is reciprocity, an attunement to the back and forth nature of social…
Parenting Without Pain: Dressing and Clothing Life Hacks
I am proud to be a guest blogger with the wonderful patient resource Creaky Joints. I am currently writing a series of posts on the topic of Parenting Without Pain. The posts will tackle how parents with arthritis or other painful joint conditions can approach activities of daily living involved in caring for children in a way that minimizes joint pain. My first topic is Dressing and Clothing Life Hacks. In this post, I cover everything from clothing selection (more zippers, less snaps!) to joint protection strategies, regardless of materials used (such as using a hand splint, as pictured below). Click here for the full post! (Note: as of 2019 the post isn’t available due…
Childhood Memories and Lessons that Influence my Work as a Pediatric Occupational Therapist: Part 1
Below, I will share childhood memories that influence my daily work as a pediatric occupational therapist. Accessing my childhood memories helps me identify with a child’s perspective, even if that child has a specific disability or challenge that I did not experience. When I find myself mystified by a child’s behavior or perspective, I conjure up vivid memories of what it was really like to be a child. Remembering the complexity of my social, emotional and academic experiences helps build a crucial bridge of empathy between myself and my students. My lessons are geared towards older elementary aged students who are mostly in the general education setting, as those are the children…
Why and How Do Pediatric Occupational Therapists Play Games?
Why do pediatric occupational therapists (OTs) play games? Pediatric therapist are often asked why we spend time “just” playing games with our clients. In addition to being engaging to children, games are powerful tools through which we work on a variety of skills including fine motor, visual-motor, gross motor, strength, social, emotional, sensory, and attention, planning and other executive functioning skills. OTs are experts in adapting games to fit a child’s goals. A competent occupational therapist will never “just play” a game with a child. The game itself and many aspects of the game’s set-up will be consciously chosen and adapted on a minute by minute basis so as to support the child’s…
Bringing Home Baby Without Breaking Your Body – How to protect your joints when you have arthritis and a new baby
Despite infants’ diminutive size and stature, caring for a new baby is a very physical job! Many new parents and caregivers experience joint or muscle pain after repetitive stress caused by lifting, carrying, diapering, and holding their baby. It’s estimated that between 25-50% of new parents experience DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis (or “Mommy thumb”) alone. It is also common to have pain in other areas such as the wrists, shoulders and back. These issues are of course exacerbated by chronic underlying illnesses such as autoimmune arthritis. From my experiences as a new mom with rheumatoid arthritis and from my training as an occupational therapist, I would like to share tips on my…
The Role of Facebook Communities in Social Participation for Persons with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Content Analysis
Research overview & summary My colleague Kristin Jones, OTR/L and I conducted the following qualitative research. It details the most frequent topics of conversation for persons with rheumatoid arthritis who engage in disease-specific Facebook groups. My experiences as a patient participating in these groups inspired this research. In order to objectively assess the communication content of these social media groups, Ms. Jones and I performed the data analysis seen below in the data overview section. The poster is pasted below and can also be found at SlideShare. Research poster Significant Findings 1. The majority of Facebook group posts served to provide information or support. Information was provided most often in the form of advice…
Bringing Home Baby: Tips for Meeting the Caregivers’ Basic Needs
It’s hard to put into words how simultaneously joyful, exhausting, transcendent, stressful, surreal, and miraculous the first few months home with an infant can be. Now that I’m emerging from the fog but the experience is still fresh in my mind, I’d love to share some tips and strategies that helped me adjust to parenthood* over the last five and a half months. While pregnant, I found countless resources for how to care for a newborn, from feeding to sleeping to swaddling to safety. However, there were less resources available for how to care for myself and other primary caregivers in the newborn days. Thus, I will focus on these…
Arthritis Gadgets/Approaches that Help During Pregnancy and Pregnancy Gadgets/Approaches that Help for Arthritis
Throughout the last 9 months of my pregnancy, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to note that many of the gadgets and approaches that are recommended for arthritis can also be helpful for pregnant women. Conveniently, many of the strategies and gadgets recommended for pregnant women can also help persons with arthritis! I’d like to share some of my favorite items and approaches so that others with arthritis or pregnancy can discover how to protect their bodies and perhaps be more comfortable. Arthritis Gadgets and Approaches that also Help During Pregnancy 1) The Reacher / Grabber The reacher/grabber is a classic gadget that helps you avoid bending down to pick up items.…
10 Years with Rheumatoid Arthritis: What’s the Impact?
I recently realized that I have lived with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for ten years, or roughly a third of my life! In that time I’ve graduated college, traveled to 12 different countries, lived in 3 states, traveled to/through over 15 states, started swing dancing, adopted 2 kittens, earned a Masters degree in occupational therapy, got married, bought a house, and more. I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time and money managing this chronic illness and mitigating it’s effects so I can live with the best quality of life possible. In honor of my diagnosis anniversary, I’d like to share how RA has (and hasn’t) affected my life over the…