OT for Spasticity in Adults

Spasticity can be present in many of the conditions we treat as occupational therapy professionals.

And, it can add significant cost and burden for our patients.

The article we are discussing in this 1-hour course gives you a big picture overview of the science behind what we know (and don’t know!) about spasticity.

You’ll find certain approaches (that I’ve personally used!) that have NOT been supported by the research—but also which modalities have a growing body of evidence behind them.

After reviewing the research, we’ll be joined on the podcast by neuro OT, Scott Thompson, OTD, MOT, OTR/L, CSRS, LSVT-BIG to discuss implications for your practice!

Resources

Starting and running your neuro OT clinic:

• NeuPT Tech

• Physical Therapy Private Practice: Secrets of the Top 10%

• Next Level OT

• Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Podcast

Clinical decision making related to spasticity:

• Evidence-Based Review of Stroke Rehabilitation

• Neurotherapy online

1. You will be able to identify interventions with moderate quality evidence for reducing spasticity in adults.

2. You will be able to recognize  interventions with low quality evidence for reducing spasticity in adults.

• Intro

• Breakdown and analysis of journal article

  • What is spasticity?

  • Prevalence in common conditions & increased burden

  • Current treatments

  • Why this review was needed

  • Methods

  • Results

  • Discussion

  • Takeaways for OT practitioners

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with Scott Thompson)

  1. Tell us how you first found OT.

  2. How did you become interested in neuro OT and health tech?

  3. What were your initial impressions of the article?

  4. It seems like when I see a patient with spasticity on my caseload: I should begin thinking this is a patient with an increased burden for their condition, and that I need to be collaborating with a team. Is that true?

  5. How do you assess spasticity?

  6. How do you think about matching the mechanism of different treatment options, with specific types of spasticity?

  7. What stood out to you about the different modalities that were listed?

  8. Tell me about logistically how you use your fave modalities in the clinic?

  9. Are there more options coming to the market for patients to be leveraging different modalities at home?

  10. What do you see as the business models that will best serve patients in leveraging OT and health tech to manage their spasticity?

Primary

• Non-pharmacological interventions for spasticity in adults: An overview of systematic reviews

Additional

• Stretching and splinting interventions for poststroke spasticity, hand function, and functional tasks: A systematic review

• Artificial Neural Network learns clinical assessment of spasticity in modified Ashworth Scale

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic. The Resources section of this page links to independent businesses and podcasts for further learning; OT Potential receives no compensation for those links and is not affiliated with them.

Speaker interests: Scott Thompson is a neuro occupational therapist holding advanced neurological rehabilitation certifications, including Saebo certification. He has no financial interest in this topic to disclose.