Occupational Therapy and Pain Management

What is occupational therapy and what has it got to do with pain management?

Occupational therapy is a healthcare profession, just like doctors, pharmacists, physiotherapists, dietitians, etc. Occupational therapists are not easily found in Malaysia - there are only about 1000 of us around the country, with more than 90% of occupational therapists practicing in the government system.

What makes occupational therapy different from other healthcare professions have a more lock-and-key, specific approach towards health. E.g. when we go to see a doctor for pain, doctors would typically prescribe a person pain medication; when people go to see a chiropractor for back pain management, the chiropractor would then adjust their back; when people go to see an acupuncturist for pain management, the acupuncturist would then target the specific parts of the body nervous system that are causing the pain with their acupuncture needles.

The common point between the practices of all the health professionals mentioned above (and other health professionals that treat pain) is that most of the time, they aim to reduce the pain. But what happens when the pain continues to come back again and again? For Malaysians with such persistent, repeating chronic pain, they feel like they have to continue to return to therapy consistently for the rest of their lives.

Occupational therapists do not necessarily work directly with the pain. Sometimes, occupational therapists may not necessarily aim to reduce the pain directly. However, occupational therapists can teach their clients strategies to reduce pain and more importantly, live in harmony with the pain. We are the ones who should be in control of our lives, not the pain. Occupational therapists would look at what are the other factors that could be influencing the pain and then work together with the clients to be able to work around them.