General

Disability and Posture: Providing 24 Hour Support for Children with Motor Impairments

Lead Speaker(s)

• 

  Tamara Kittelson-Aldred, MS, OTR/L, ATP/SMS

  Project Director
  Posture 24/7

24-hour posture management considers the individual’s posture, comfort and function over all hours, day and night. It is used by physical and occupational therapists outside North America as a means of maintaining and improving health and postural control. Protection or improvement of healthy body alignment, supporting restful sleep, protecting respiratory and digestive functions and reducing pain all come into play. The premise of this course is that postural support in lying is often overlooked but is essential to the health and function of a person who is unable to easily and frequently change their lying position in bed. Posture management aims to maintain and protect body shape by providing support to body postures whether in lying, sitting or standing positions through the use of specialized and appropriate equipment over a 24-hour period. Clinically the management of posture throughout waking and sleeping hours is logical to many practitioners, and shares theoretical common ground with use of orthotics and seating systems to provide postural support and facilitate function. Complex body shapes complicate human life. However, appropriate management of posture day and night has potential to enhance quality of life while reducing costs related to surgery, hospitalization and personal assistance.

Learning Objectives:

• Upon completion of this course the learner will compare and contrast characteristics of therapeutic and destructive postures, describing how body position, gravity and time influence the ribcage, spine and hips.
• Upon completion of this course the learner will predict the likely direction of chest rotation, pelvic distortion and hip dislocation based upon habitual postures and describe interventions to counteract these problems.
• Upon completion of this course the learner will list safety risks, analyze risk vs benefits and describe roles of different people on the care team when implementing 24 hour posture care management at night. .
• Upon completion of this course the learner will demonstrate understanding of 24 hour posture care management through practice in a lab setting. .