Dr. Satish Bhalla

Cerebral palsy and occupational therapy

In order to recover the skills that are required for leading an independent and a satisfying life after any injury or disease, an occupational therapist is required. The word occupation refers to the tasks which one has to perform everyday not to one’s profession. Muscle and joint coordination issues can be fixed with the help of occupational therapy in case if kids .These include the daily activities like eating, brushing using the toilet. With the help of OT your cognitive and social abilities and even your motor skills will improve at a very good rate.

How is this beneficial for children with cerebral palsy?

Occupational therapy will be helpful to the children who are specially suffering from cerebral palsy. These benefits includes:

- It will increase the chances of making your child more independent.
- It will boost their ability to play as well as to learn.
- The self esteem and the confidence of your child will readily increase.
- They’ll have a sense of accomplishment.
- Their quality of life will improve as well.
- This is also beneficial for the parents as well. It will reduce your stress and will provide you with a sense of security.

What to expect?

Occupational therapy is different for different children who have cerebral palsy. It depends on one’s physical, intellectual and social emotional abilities .The first session is basically done for evaluation where your child’s fine motor and will be observed how your child responds to touch or any kind of movement. The parents are also interviewed in order to find out about the strengths and the weaknesses of your child. For children with cerebral palsy, a revaluation should be done in every 7-8 months in order to see the progress and change the treatment plan accordingly as per the improvement .The operational therapist will use some specific techniques which will help your child to improve very quickly and reach their destination.

These techniques are :

Paediatric constraint induced Movement therapy: This therapy helps your child to move the weaker parts of the body by restraining the stronger counterpart. If you child has a difficulty in moving one of the arms then the stronger arm will be restrained and the weaker arm will be trained in order to gain the strength.

Sensory integration therapy: This type of therapy will help your child to improve the ability bro receive , interpret and act on the information and situations that comes in your child’s brain with the help of sensory receptors .

Occupational therapy has been a very important part in improving the physical and the mental discomfort faced by your child when he or she is suffering from cerebral palsy. The therapist may even provide your child with some gadgets in order to make his /her daily life easier and more independent. This helps your child to improve and gradually get better at it without any sort of negativity. While you’re looking for a OT make sure the person has enough experience and knowledge, just to ensure that your child gets the right treatment.

 

Trying to get pregnant can go either ways for most couples that is it can be a breeze, or it can be a difficult process that ends up with lots of fertility clinic visits. While in some cases, the reasons for not being able to conceive may come down to male infertility, there are many cases where the reason may be female infertility too. In many other cases, both male and female infertility may be the cause.

Let us discuss female infertility in more details here.
When can it be called Infertility?

When a couple is not being able to conceive even after trying for a period of over a year, then a case can be made in favour of infertility. Infertility can result from females in at least one third of the cases, as per various medical studies. While the actual cause may be difficult to diagnose, there are many available treatments that one can use in order to fix the underlying issues.

When to Start Worrying? 

Female infertility comes with many symptoms, while the main symptom may be the inability to conceive, the other symptoms include excessively long menstrual cycles that show signs of slowing down only after 35 days or so, or even cycles that are too short where they appear within 21 days. Irregular and absent periods can point at the lack of ovulation which is the main sign of infertility. Other than that, there are no outward signs of infertility as such apart from pelvic pain and cramping or heavy bleeding during periods. If you are 30 years of age, or younger, then you may want to see a doctor regarding irregular and absent periods, or the lack of conception even after trying for a year. Also, if you are between 35 and 40 years of age, you can discuss the inability to conceive with your doctor, after efforts for six months. If you have been trying to conceive and you are over 40 years of age, then the doctor will put you through tests on an immediate basis.

The Requirements for Conception? 

In order to conceive, you will need to ovulate on a normal basis and have regular menstrual cycles as well as intercourse. Also, your fallopian tubes and uterus must be in normal working condition without any infections and other conditions.

Causes

There may be many causes for female infertility including ovarian faults like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), hypothalamic dysfunction, premature ovarian insufficiency and excessive prolactin in the ovaries. Also, pelvic inflammation disorders that lead to damage of the fallopian tubes and other uterus related issues like endometriosis can lead to female infertility.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

Cosmetic surgery is something that has become very popular in today’s world. As a matter of fact, the most common type of cosmetic surgery performed happens to be breast implantation. This is proven by the fact that the number of people signing up for this sort of surgery has trebled over the past two decades. That being said, many people have concerns about how safe breast implants are. So, getting to the crux of the matter, how safe are they?

In order to answer this question, it is helpful to understand what exactly an implant is. A breast implant is made of silicone and there may be either silicone gel or saline water contained inside the silicone envelope. One of the biggest fears when it comes to breast implants is that of a rupture. While it is true that this is not a circumstance to look forward to, it is not fatal and something which can negatively affect the body prior to detection. In fact, for quite some time, it may not even be noticed!

If a person has saline breast implants and there is a rupture, it is harmless as the salt water which escapes gets absorbed by the body. On the other hand, when the same happens with breast implants containing silicone gel, the gel can get distributed beyond the breast. While this is not a comfortable thought, research over the course of many years has not shown a link between the two.

Prior to 1976, which was the year in which the FDA required certain standards of implants, there was a risk. Ever since then, there has been tight regulation and one need not be unduly worried about unsafe implants being sold.

Understanding The Procedure
When the surgery first takes place, precautions have to be taken so as to reduce the risk of infection. A little care can go a long way in making sure everything goes according to plan. The process involves making an incision in an inconspicuous area of your breast and inserting the implant in a pocket either under the pectoral muscle or behind the breast tissue (over the pectoral muscle). The entire surgery involves either intravenous sedation or general anaesthesia, depending on your doctor’s recommendation. Sometimes, it may be so that a woman needs to have repeated procedures or corrections to make sure that everything is just right. Some discomfort can be caused by scar tissue and this can also lead to the breast becoming misshapen.

Results
While all implants do break over time, most of good quality should last over a decade. Many people believe breast implants can cause cancer but that is really not true. However, they can interfere with detecting mammary cancer quickly and effectively. As long as the medical care is proper, there is almost nothing to fear!

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!