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Balancing Activity and Rest During Cancer Rehabilitation

Julie Silver, M.D.

September 4, 2012

Question

How can occupational therapists teach clients, in cancer rehabilitation, to balance rest with activities?

Answer

Occupational therapists play an important role in cancer rehabilitation.  They focus on what the client values and their daily occupations.  Occupational therapists can evaluate what daily activities are important, how to simplify them or break them down into smaller segments and what tasks they can relegate to someone else.  The STAR program has a three day log that can be used to track daily activities to see what areas of the client's daily life is the most demanding or fatiguing. This tool could be helpful during the evaluation process to see what areas need to be adjusted to maximize the patient's endurance and optimize their function.

It is important that during the healing phase of cancer rehabilitation that the client have a good support network still in place.  They will continue to need help long after the acute phase to help with these fatigue issues.


julie silver

Julie Silver, M.D.

Julie Silver, MD, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, is a noted expert in physical medicine and rehabilitation (physiatry). Dr. Silver is the Chief Editor of Books at Harvard Health Publications, the consumer health branch of Harvard Medical School, and is on the medical staff at Massachusetts General, Brigham and Womens, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been a member of the medical staff at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where she worked in the Lance Armstrong Foundation Survivorship Clinic and is the co-founder of Oncology Rehab Partners, an innovative healthcare company that developed the STAR Program®, an evidence-based and best practices model for cancer rehabilitation care. 


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