Allied Health Professions Day 2020
Happy Allied Health Professions Day!
There are 14 allied health professions (AHPs), and occupational therapy is one of them - but can you name the others?
Occupational therapists across the UK can officially give themselves a well-deserved pat on the back today as the UK celebrates Allied Health Professions Day.
But who else is in this marvellous mix of AHPs and why do they deserve our thanks and praise in the realm of brain injury?
The fab 14
Well, here’s the list of the UK’s 14 AHPs, along with reasons why we should be in awe of everything they do to help brain injury survivors and their families:
- Occupational therapists: identify barriers to independence, such as physical, cognitive and executive limitations, and assist people in overcoming them. More here: Krysalis Occupational Therapy - What we do
- Speech and language therapists: tackle speech and communication problems, including those arising from acquired brain injury (ABI). Here’s how one company streamlines its services for neurorehabilitation purposes: The Speech Group
- Physiotherapists: use movement, posture, exercise and manual therapy to help people with physical injury, illness or disability. Here’s an example of their impact in the neurological environment: Neurological Physio Therapy
- Dieticians: nutrition lies at the heart of enduring brain injury rehabilitation. Find out why here: Nutrition and rehabilitation. And here’s how nutrition is helping our brain injury blogger, Anne Ricketts: Nutrition and diet following brain injury.
- Art therapists: studies have shown art boosts the cognitive abilities of attention, memory and logic, fine motor skills, mood, acceptance and self-expression. This site depicts it perfectly: Paintings in hospitals and how art can aid recovery from brain injury.
- Drama therapists: provide means to “unlock and resolve past traumas, clearing the way for new growth and transformation, like the mythic and sacred Firebird rising from the ashes of its own destruction.” Read more here: Healing trauma, psychodrama.
- Music therapists: apply fine-tuning to physical abilities, social skills and cognitive functioning through the medium of music. The UK’s leading brain injury association conducts a study into music therapy here: Headway - Music after brain injury.
- Orthoptists: problems with eye movement or vision following a brain injury are the focus of orthoptists. Here’s how they assist with sight impairments following stroke: Stroke and Neurorehabilitation
- Prosthetists and orthotists: knowledgeable in artificial devices that enable people to function and mobilise to their best ability and reduce falls and pain. More here: NHS foot care and Asha.org
- Operating department practitioners: among the first fabulous folks encountered in hospital after an operable brain injury. Their everyday demands revealed here: NHS - Operating dept practitioner.
- Radiographers: the people operating the imaging machines that show what’s going on inside our bodies. This is how they can help brain injury patients: Scans and tests after brain injury factsheet.
- Paramedics: often the first at the scene of a traumatic brain injury (TBI), paramedics study between 2 and 4 years to become an emergency medical member of an ambulance crew. But we can all help while waiting for them! The advice here: First aid advice
- Chiropodists and podiatrists: called on to address lower limb neurological and functional assessments and balance/mobility impairment Here’s how they’re stepping up to Covid-19 rehab calls: httpThe college of podiatry statement on allied health professionals role in rehabilitation during and after covid19.
- Osteopaths: specialise in the smooth functioning of bones, muscles, ligaments and connective tissue. Theirs is 1 of just 2 complementary and alternative medicines (CAMS) statutorily regulated in the same way as conventional medicine in the UK. Osteopathy info and guidance here: NHS Osteopathy
According to the NHS, allied health professionals now represent the UK’s second-largest healthcare workforce.
Look for #AHPsDay on Twitter.
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Expert stress and anxiety advice for brain injury survivors
Twenty apps to boost brain injury rehabilitation
References
[1] https://www.england.nhs.uk/ahp/ahps-day/
[2] S. Rastrick, "Building our workforce of the future," NHS, June 2019.
Opinions and endorsements published by others on Krysalis Consultancy Ltd blogs or publications do not necessarily reflect the views of Krysallis Consultancy Ltd.