Occupational therapy uses purposeful and therapeutic activities to help people participate in daily tasks according to their goals. Therapeutic activities include exercises focused on improving range of motion, strength, or a specific function as well as purposeful activities where the focus is on completing a meaningful task. Occupational therapists evaluate clients, develop customized intervention plans involving different types of exercises and activities, and assess outcomes to ensure goals are met.

1. Introduction
to
Therapeutic Activities
Ms. Ambreen
Department of Health Professional Technologies
Faculty of Allied Health Sciences
University of Lahore
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2. Learning objects:
 Occupational Therapy
 Purposeful activity
 Therapeutic exercise
 Therapeutic activity
 Range of Motion
 Concentric contraction
 Eccentric contraction
 Isometric contraction
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3. Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is the only profession
that helps people across the lifespan to do
the things they want and need to do through
the therapeutic use of daily activities
(occupations).
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4. Occupational Therapy Practitioners
Occupational therapy practitioners enable
people of all ages to live life to its fullest by
helping them promote health, and prevent or
live better with injury, illness, or disability.
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5. Continued..
Occupational therapy practitioners have a
holistic perspective, in which the focus is on
adapting the environment and/or task to fit
the person, and the person is an integral part
of the therapy team. It is an evidence-based
practice deeply rooted in science.
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6. Occupational Therapy Interventions
Common occupational therapy interventions
include helping children with disabilities to
participate fully in school and social situations,
helping people recovering from injury to regain
skills, and providing supports for older adults
experiencing physical and cognitive changes.
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7. Continued..
Occupational therapy services typically include:
An individualized evaluation, during which the client/family
and occupational therapist determine the person’s goals,
Customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to
perform daily activities and reach the goals, and
An outcomes evaluation to ensure that the goals are being
met and/or make changes to the intervention plan.
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8. Purposeful Activity
It is a task in which individuals actively
participate with their focus on the task itself
rather than the exercise within it.
For example, an individual participating in
sanding.
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9. Continued..
A piece of wood may focus on the task of
smoothing the wood rather than achieving
the required movements of shoulder and
elbow.
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10. Therapeutic Exercise
It directs the individuals attention to increasing a
specific function such as strength or range of
motion. There is no inherent goal within the activity
itself.
For example, a weight program designed for
strengthening muscles would be considered a
Therapeutic exercise.
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11. Therapeutic Activity
A term “Therapeutic Activity” covers both
therapeutic exercise and purposeful activity
and refers to any activity adapted by the
therapist to achieve a “Therapeutic Goal”.
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12. Manual muscle testing (MMT)
Manual muscle testing (MMT) is a very
common practice of orthopedic examination
specifically designed to assess function and
strength of various muscles, usually when
rehabilitating sports injuries or recovering
from an illness.
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13. MMT scale 13

14. Range of Motion
Range of motion(ROM) is described in
terms of a portion of the normal range of the
joint movement.
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15. Types of ROM
There are three primary types of exercises
specific to range of motion.
Passive range of motion
Active-assistive range of motion
Active range of motion
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16. Passive range of motion
It is typically practiced on a joint that is inactive. The
physical therapist may use this exercise on a client
who is paralyzed or unable to mobilize a specific
joint. This type of exercise can help prevent stiffness
from occurring. During this exercise the patient does
not perform any movement, while the therapist
stretches the patient's soft tissues.
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17. Active-assistive range of motion
The exercises are more progressive, intended for the
client to perform movement around the joint with
some manual assistance from the physical therapist
or from a strap or band. These exercises can often
feel painful, and the muscles can feel weak.
Increasing range of motion with these exercises
should be a gradual advancement.
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18. Active range of motion
The exercises are highly independent,
performed solely by the client.
The physical therapist's role may be simply
to provide verbal cues.
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19. Testing Your Range of Motion
To measure range of motion, physical therapists
most commonly use a goniometer, which is an
instrument that measures angle at a joint.
Goniometers show degrees of an angle from zero to
180 or 360 degrees and are available in different
shapes and sizes for the unique joints in the human
body.
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20. Continued..
As an example, when using a goniometer to measure
knee flexion, the center of the tool will be at the side
view of the knee joint, and the arms of the goniometer
are aligned in the center of the long bones above and
below the knee. As the knee is bent or flexed the
movable arms provide a measure of the degree of
movement.
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21. Goniometer
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22. Muscle strength Categorization
Light: Any activity requiring minimal
resistance of grade 3+ or less.
Moderate: Any activity requiring minimal
resistance of more than Grade 3+.
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23. Concentric (isotonic) contraction
During a concentric contraction there is a joint
motion and the muscle shortens.
This is done with or without resistance.
Concentric contractions may be performed in
positions with gravity assisting or gravity
eliminated or against gravity, according to the
clients muscle grade and goal of the exercise.
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24. Continued..
An example of a concentric contraction the
biceps is lifting a bucket of sand up from the
ground.
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26. Eccentric Contraction
When muscles contraction eccentrically, the
tension in the muscle increases or remains
constant while the muscle lengthens.
This may be done with or without resistance.
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27. Continued..
An example of an eccentric contraction
performed against no resistance is the slow
lowering of the arm on the table.
The biceps are contracting eccentrically in
this instance.
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29. Isometric Contraction
During an isometric contraction there is no joint
motion, and the muscle length remains the same.
A muscle and its antagonist may be contracted at
any point in the ROM to stabilize a joint.
This may be without resistance or against some
outside resistance, such as the therapist’s hand or a
table top.
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30. Continued..
An example of isometric exercise of biceps
against resistance is pressing up underneath
a table with the forearm in supination.
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32. Concentric/Eccentric (vice versa)
When a movement is in one direction, one
set of muscles may be using a concentric
contraction and the opposite group of
muscles may be using an eccentric
contraction.
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33. Continued…
However, when the movement is done in the
opposite direction the opposition
contractions may be used, in such cases, this
has been indicated b concentric /eccentric
(vise versa).
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35. Fine Motor
Fine motor activities involves any hand
function, either for stabilization or active
control.
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37. Gross Motor
Gross motor activities includes any activity,
either stabilization or active movement in the
upper limb except the hand.
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39. Difference between TE & PA
Therapeutic Exercise
Any activity in which
the only goal is the
rehabilitation goal,
it has no inherent goal
within the activity
itself.
Purposeful Activity
Any activity which has
an inherent goal other
than the rehabilitation
value.
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