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World Arthritis Day - 12 October 2021 Nutrition Tips for People with Arthritis  Good nutrition can be helpful in:
Omega 3 Oils There is limited evidence that fish oils (omega 3) reduce inflammation in some people with arthritis. Omega 3 oil is also thought to reduce risk of heart disease. It is recommended to have 1-2 servings of fish or other seafood a week for good health. Omega oil is also found in flaxseed oil, walnuts and a small amount in red meats. Vitamin Supplements If you are unable to achieve a healthy food intake, vitamin supplements maybe necessary. Talk with your Doctor about this. Alternative arthritis treatments Alternative treatments are available for many chronic diseases. Discuss these with your Doctor before you try them as they may interact with your treatment.  Need more help? Therapy Professionals Ltd has experienced Dietitians who can provide group or individual nutrition education. For enquiries: Phone 377 5280. Email: admin@tpl.nz  Calcium
Ways to Maintain Healthy Weight To lose weight Even a small reduction in body weight will relieve stress on joints
Ways to gain weight For some people, keeping weight on can be a struggle
If you would like advice from our Dietitians, call us, we come to you
Therapy Professionals Ltd Phone No: (03) 377 5280 Email: admin@tpl.nz Website: www.therapyprofessionals.co.nz What is Cerebral Palsy? Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the leading cause of physical disability in New Zealand children. It is an umbrella term for a group of lifelong conditions affecting a person’s movement, which is caused by damage to the area of the brain that controls muscle tone. It may affect muscle:
Cerebral Palsy occurs during pregnancy, at birth or shortly after, in 80% of cases the cause is unknown. There are risk factors for cerebral palsy. they may include:
Cerebral palsy affects people in different ways, ranging from, a mild form where a limb may be slightly affected and barely noticeable, to a severe form where the whole body is affected andmay be accompanied by visual, learning, hearing, speech, epilepsy and intellectual impairments. There are four types of cerebral palsy – spastic, athetoid, ataxic and mixed Spastic Cerebral Palsy - This is most common affecting 70% -80% of those with cerebral palsy. The muscles become stiff and tight making movement difficult. There are five sub categories based on the limbs affected:
Athetoid Cerebral Palsy – affects about 10-20% of those with cerebral palsy. It is characterised by uncontrolled, purposeless, slow, writhing movements where the muscles change from being tense to being floppy. It commonly affects the arms, legs, feet and hands and sometimes the face and tongue. This movement often increases under stress and stops while sleeping Ataxic Cerebral Palsy – affects about 5-10% of those with cerebral palsy. It is characterised by low muscle tone and poor coordination. It affects balance and depth perception giving a wide gait and making the person look unsteady and shaky on their feet or when handling objects. Mixed Cerebral Palsy - affects 10% of those with cerebral palsy and involves several areas of the brain and the symptoms will be a mix of the other three types of cerebral palsy described above. There is no known cure for cerebral palsy and some symptoms may improve or worsen with time. Treatment can help manage the condition, there are a number of different approaches to treatment:  Treatments
Botox - An injection of botulinum toxin is effective for reducing over-activity in muscles. This results in a reduction in muscle strength and muscle tone with small, short-lived gains in aspects of gait and function. Conductive Education – is based on the brain's ability to re-wire itself and teaches children with cerebral palsy to coordinate their movements. Cranial Osteopathy – there is limited evidence that cranial osteopathy help Cerebral Palsy Occupational Therapy - can help with muscle and joint coordination issues that make everyday tasks difficult including eating, brushing teeth and bathing. Can help to improve physical, cognitive, social abilities, fine motor skills, posture and sensory processing Physiotherapy – for children with cerebral palsy is to increase mobility while promoting physical development like sitting, crawling, and walking. With regular physiotherapy treatment, and equipment the physiotherapy goals include: Improved muscular strength and activation
Physiotherapy for an adult’s cerebral palsy includes:
Bobath a physiotherapy method - promotes motor learning for efficient motor control in various environments, thereby improving participation and function. Speech Language Therapy - improve a child’s speech and communication by strengthening the muscles used for speech, increasing oral motor skills and by improving their understanding of speech and language. It also can help with swallowing disorders, like dysphagia. Surgical interventions - Orthopaedic surgery addresses several different areas: gait abnormalities, correction of hip deformity, upper limb and scoliosis surgery. Short muscles cannot be lengthened but surgery can alter the length of the tendons, redirect the tendons and, in some cases, divide the tendons to remove an abnormal force. Lengthening tendons reduces tension in the muscle in the short term. If you know someone who is struggling with cerebral palsy our friendly therapists may be able to help, just contact us at Therapy Professionals Ph: 03 3775280 Email: admin@tpl.nz How to support a child with dyslexia by Ministry Of Education  Dyslexia is a term used to describe a range of persistent difficulties with reading and writing, and often including spelling, numeracy or musical notation. Students with dyslexia do not make expected progress in these areas in spite of good teaching and the type of extra support that would be helpful for most children. But difficulties with dyslexia can be reduced with effective individualised teaching and specialist support. It is important to identify it early Literacy is the foundation of all learning so identifying dyslexia early is critical. That way children can be supported to participate in the full range of social, academic and other learning opportunities at school. Identifying dyslexia before starting school can be difficult and potentially risky as there is so much variation in the way children develop in those early years. Once identified, it is important that ‘dyslexia’ is not used as a label, but rather as a means to action. As a label, it encourages people to see all ‘dyslexic’ students as the same, when we know that they’re not. All students’ individual difficulties and strengths need to be identified and addressed. What are the signs that my child might have dyslexia? Your child may have dyslexia if, after a year at school, they often display a number of these difficulties:
How can I help at home? If your child has dyslexia, you can make a difference. Successful people with dyslexia have said that their success is largely due to the practical and emotional support they received from their parents. Have fun with your child at home or in the car playing word games and making rhymes, reading together and talking about what you’re doing. While language games and reading won’t ‘prevent’ dyslexia, they help by promoting an awareness of the sounds letters make and how language works. Remember to praise and encourage your child, even if they guess wrong.  Infants
Toddlers
Young and school age children
More tips
Mauri Ora – Be Positive People with dyslexia can easily and quickly develop low self-esteem and compensatory strengths, such as memorising text, to try and make up for their difficulties. It is very important for families to support their children’s strengths and successes to boost their self-esteem. How will my school help? If you have concerns about your child’s learning, talk to the teacher. Working with your child’s teacher is crucial if your child has dyslexia. The school will identify your child’s strengths and learning needs so that the most appropriate help can be put in place. It may be necessary to bring in other people to decide if your child needs special support, such as an individual education programme or help from a special teacher, such as a Resource Teacher: Literacy. For more information on how schools can help visit. https://parents.education.govt.nz/primary-school/learning-at-school/how-to-support-a-child-with-dyslexia/ Often children with dyslexia can be helped by Speech Language and Occupational Therapists. If you want additional help just contact Therapy Professionals, our friendly therapists can help. Ph: 03 3775280 Email: admin@tpl.nz Sensory Profile Education for Staff Sensory assessments help identify the cause of some unusual behaviours triggered by sensitivities to sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell and movement.
For people with Autism it can help identify:
Sensory Profile Assessments are useful for people of all ages. Our response to information from our senses changes as we grow, develop and age. There are different assessments for each stage of life. This two hour session is an interactive hands on session to help the participants understand their own sensory preferences so they can better support themselves, their team and their clients. If you are interested, please contact: Contact: Therapy Professionals Ltd Phone: 03 377 5280. Fax: 03 377 5281 Email: admin@tpl.nz Food Labels Shopping these days can be a ‘headache’ because there are so many different products to choose from, all wanting us to buy them. In order to get our attention, advertisers and promotions trick us into thinking their produce is the healthiest choice. Here are a few tricks they use to encourage us to buy. No added sugar This means sugar has not been added, however, the product is likely to contain fruit sugars or milk sugars and can still be considered high sugar. Check the nutrition information panel for ‘sugar’ content and follow healthy guidelines. Lite or light Could mean less fat, sugar, or salt, or it might just refer to the colour or taste! Check the nutrition information panel and ingredient list to compare with the regular brand.  Low fat or fat reduced By law they must contain less fat than the regular product – however it may still not necessarily be low in fat and are often pumped full of extra sugar and salt to taste better. Use with caution! Cholesterol free or low Cholesterol These products may still be high fat and high energy. Check the nutrition information panel. Many of these products are cholesterol-free naturally, such as nuts, crackers, some chips etc. The type of fat the product contains is more important. We want to avoid saturated and trans fats which contain cholesterol and are found in animal products, processed foods, and oily fish.  Diet’ or low kilojoule or low calorie Generally contains artificial sweetener instead of sugar (40% less energy than regular product) and fat. Toasted or Oven baked Often these products have added fats and oils – it is important to check the fat content on the nutrition information panel. Some can be exactly the same as the fried version i.e. crisps or corn chips. All natural Doesn’t mean much! Sugar, fat, oil, cream and nuts are all natural. Endorsed by the Heart Foundation These products will be low in saturated fat, however, may not be low in total fat, sugar and energy. Companies pay to have this logo on their product. Sometimes the cheaper home brands are jst as good as the expensive endorsed ones. Use with caution.No added salt, low salt, salt reducedIndicates extra salt is not added, however may still contain high levels of natural salts. Check the panel. Diabetic or carbohydrate modifiedSome are high in fact. Usually more expensive. Often best to use the regal products but sparingly How do you read the nutrition information panel  If you would like advice our friendly Dietitian can help. Just contact us:
Phone: (03) 377 5280 Email: admin@tpl.nz Website: http://www.therapyprofessionals.co.nz A Moving Child is a Learning Child by Gill Connell and Cheryl McCarthy Book Review  Active play is joyful, fun and creative. Play is the essence of childhood. And it is also essential to child development. The benefits of active play are often linked to physical health – which of course, in an era concerned with childhood obesity rates, is critically important. Yet this book tells the lesser- known and surprising story of the myriad ways in which play and movement are vital to our children’s learning. Gill and Cheryl’s ground-breaking book introduces a developmentally complex (yet easy to implement) tool that supports the full, natural development of movement and learning in young children. The Kinetic Scale shows us what constitutes a ‘balanced diet’ of movement, enabling teachers, parents and caregivers to facilitate learning through active play while respecting each child’s individual needs. It’s a story that needs to be heard. At home, at school and in communities, our children are being denied vital opportunities to move their bodies, exercise their imaginations and interact with other kids. Children spend an average of eight hours a day in front of a screen. Almost half of all low-income students do not get any recess. Only one in five children lives within walking distance of a park or playground. This directly affects these children’s physical development and more importantly, their social, emotional and cognitive development. As a society, we are failing to give children the balance of active play they need to become healthy and successful adults. This is why I champion the importance of play because our children’s futures depend on it and it is why Gill and Cheryl are working to stress the message of moving to learn in a way that offers us all new insights and practical, engaging ways to support it That kid’s brains require play should be a no brainer. In this important book, the authors demonstrate what a grave injustice we’re doing to our kids by denying them opportunities to move and play. More than that, through illuminating brain research, they show us why our children need to be on the move, and how we can make this happen for the young children in our care. It is all of our responsibility to give kids the childhood they deserve by ensuring they get the play they need to learn and grow. Reviewer: Darrell Hammond is the founder and CEO of the non-profit a KaBoom which has built more than 2300 playgrounds in areas of need throughout the United States.
If you have a child who is struggling to develop and they need extra help to grow and develop, our friendly therapist can help. Just contact Therapy Professionals on: Phone: 03 377 5280 Email: admin@tpl.nz  What is Ageing? Ageing is a process of accumulating experiences, enriching our lives through knowledge and physical skills. This acquired wisdom gives us the potential to make sensible and beneficial decisions about ourselves. The fullness and richness of our remaining years is in our hands. Barring accidents and disease the quality of our golden years is resolved primarily by ourselves. The more we control our lives the more enjoyable the remaining years can be. The degree of independence we have in our lives is directly related to how active we are in body, mind and spirit. In spite of some decreases in efficiency and capacity with increasing age, a relatively high level of physical and mental function can be maintained for years. We have a choice: a choice to give up our independence and fade away or to control and maintain vigorously active lives, fully enjoying our remaining years. Use it or lose it is a rule that applies to our bodies and minds. It is even more significant as we age since we gradually lose intellectual and physical capacity with increasing years. Keeping mentally and physically active reduces the rate at which we lose our functions and enable us to more fully enjoy and increase the quality of the golden years of our life. If ageing is making life difficult and you need help to improve your physical activity, diet or need help to remain independent, here at Therapy Professionals our friendly therapists can help. They are experienced helping people who are ageing and have age related disabilities, to maintain their independence and quality of life. Just contact Therapy Professionals Ltd. Phone: 03 377 5280. Email: admin@tpl.nz Website: www.therapyprofessionals.co.nz We can help, we come to you. Reference: Healthy happy ageing – a positive approach to active living, Yvonne Wagorn, Sonia Théberge, William A. R. Orban   Multiple Sclerosis Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a condition which affects the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. MS is extremely variable affecting each person who has it in a different way. We don’t yet know the cause of MS, but it is thought to be an auto immune condition. Types of MS The course of MS is unpredictable. Some people are minimally affected by the disease while others have rapid progress to total disability with most people fitting between these two extremes. Although every individual will experience a different combination of MS symptoms, there are a number of distinct patterns relating to the course of the disease. Clinically Isolated Syndrome If a person has only had one episode or symptom they are generally diagnosed as having clinically-isolated syndrome (CIS). A person with CIS may or may not go on to develop clinically definite MS. Relapsing Remitting MS (RRMS) RRMS is the most common form of the disease. It is characterised by clearly defined acute attacks with either full recovery or with residual deficit upon recovery. Periods between disease relapses are characterised by a lack of disease progression. Approximately 85% of people with MS begin with a relapsing-remitting course. Secondary Progressive MS (SPMS) SPMS begins with an initial relapsing remitting disease course, followed by progression of a disability that may include occasional relapses and minor remissions and plateaus. Typically, secondary progressive disease is characterised by less recovery following attacks, persistently worsening function during and between attacks, and /or fewer and fewer attacks (or none at all) accompanied by progressive disability. According to some natural history studies, of the 85% who star with relapsing-remitting disease, more than 50% will develop SPMS within 10 years: with 90% within 25 years. More recent natural history studies (perhaps because of the use of MRI to assist in the diagnosis) suggest a more benign outlook that these numbers suggest. Primary Progressive MS (PPMS) PPMS is characterised by disability from onset, without plateaus or remissions or with occasional plateaus and temporary minor improvements. A person with PPMS, by definition, does not experience acute attacks. Of people with MS diagnosed, only 10% have PPMS. In addition, the diagnostic criteria for PPMS are less secure than those for RRMS so that often the diagnosis is only made long after the onset of neurological symptoms and at a time when the person is already living with significant disability. Progressive Relapsing MS (PRMS) PRMS, which is the least common disease course, shows progression of disability from onset but with clear acute relapses, with or without full recovery. Approximately 5% of people with MS appear to have PRMS at diagnosis. Not infrequently a patient may be initially diagnosed as having PPMS and then will experience an acute attack, thereby establishing the diagnosis of PRMS. It is believed that about 1 in 1000 New Zealanders have a diagnosis of PRMS. The MS and Parkinson’s Society run specialist exercise classes for people with MS, as well as monthly morning teas. MSNZ (http://ww.msnz.org.nz/) is a reliable online source of information about MS symptoms as well as for news and research updates. The Multiple Sclerosis a page on Health Navigator NZ (https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/health-a-z/m/multiple sclerosis/) is also a good concise source of information. If you live in Canterbury and have recently been diagnosed with MS< or know someone who has and want to find out how you can support them, contact our office on (03) 366 2857 or email support@ms.-pd.org.nz If you need additional support to maintain your independence Therapy Professionals therapists can help, just contact us: Phone: 03 377 5280 Email: admin@tpl.nz Reference: Parkinsons (https://ms-pd.org.nz/parkinsons/)  Sensory Assessments
Sensory assessments help identify the cause of some unusual behaviours triggered by sensitivities to sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell and movement. For people with Autism it can help identify:
Sensory Profile Assessments are useful for people of all ages. Our response to information from our senses changes as we grow, develop and age. This is why there are different assessments for each stage of life. A sensory assessment involves:
The interview has many questions and can take up to 1.5-2 hours approximately
Approximately 8-12 hours of therapist time. Contact: Therapy Professionals Ltd Phone: 03 377 5280 Fax: 03 377 5281 Email: admin@tpl.nz  Tips to get those with dementia moving Exercise 1. Ensure there is a goal in sight for the client. Break longer walks into a series of short goals, eg, get them to walk to the chair over by the door, then walk to the dining table, then the door and finally to walk to the chair outside the toilet. Gesture where you want them to go. 2. Get your residents to walk to morning and afternoon tea and to see their visitors. 3. Sit your resident at the end of the bed, sit next to them ensuring you are invading their space, this will encourage them to move away from you towards the head of the bed, keep moving into their space until they are in the place you want them. Communication 1. Show respect for your client by listening to them. 2. Give commands not questions eg “Stand up” instead of “would you like to stand for me” 3. Give one command at a time (so they have time to understand). 4. Use their words eg if they use loo for toilet refer to the toilet as the loo. 5. Use gestures to indicate what you want them to do. Fears Demented clients often have difficulty getting out of the chair and walking downstairs. This is because they have a perceptual problem that causes them to feel they are falling off a cliff. 1. Getting out of a chair - place a chair or some barrier in front of them to give them a sense of security. Make sure it is far enough away so they do not use it to assist themselves to stand or move. 2. Walking downstairs – get the client to walk down sideways holding onto the rail. If you are still having trouble, our friendly physiotherapists may be able to help.
Just contact us at Therapy Professionals Ltd Phone: 03 377 5280 Email admin@tpl.nz Reference: Rosemary Oddy MRCP |
AuthorShonagh O'Hagan Archives
October 2021
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