courcework

Coursework
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Coursework
Qn. 1. Why the knowledge of surface anatomy and posture is important in Occupational Therapy.
Firstly, surface anatomy and posture identification aid in the determining of the aspects used to characterize potential defects in an individual when practicing Occupational Therapy. For instance, the health professional shall need the skills acquired from surface anatomy and posture studies to tell whether a patient is feeding in the normal posture. Secondly, the knowledge in both fields is essential for communication between the professionals and their colleagues. The learning process would be too complicated to implement if the therapists lacked the necessary surface anatomy skills, since the terms that are used in making a diagnosis require a standard and professional language.
Qn. 2. Then, specifically how it relates to things you notice with this patient when he is trying to feed himself or complete activities sitting on the mat.
The skills in surface anatomy assist the health professional to identify, document and communicate to colleagues about the muscles involved in specific movements. An example is when determining why the patient cannot flex the neck in a particular direction during the feeding process. When documenting, the professional is expected to use the knowledge of surface anatomy to describe the specific muscle that is involved in neck flexion and relate it to the nerve supply from the responsible cervical bone of the spinal cord.

Secondly, the knowledge of postures will aid in identifying deformities when examining the patient. In the given case, monitoring the patient while sitting on the mat will require the understanding of the right posture to tell whether the movements they make are healthy or not. An example is a defect in the scapulohumeral rhythm that will cause pain, making the patient change their posture. The root of the cause the knowledge will then determine if it is related to hyperexcitability or hypo excitability of the nervous supply of the involved muscle.
Qn. 3. Next, given that we know his surgery involved C3 – C7 and using the table on page 177 in Magee,
Identify one motion where he demonstrates a weakness you would expect
When the patient is feeding, I anticipate weakness in flexing the neck laterally. The weakness is due to the involvement of the longus capitis muscle. Usually, the muscle helps to flex the neck laterally and has its innervation from C3 (Magee, 2014).
…and how this is impacting his functioning.
The patient is, therefore, unable to reach for food placed in a lateral position due to difficulty in lateral neck flexion. The result will be an altered forward neck posture that is seen when the patient sits on the mat facing forward.
References
Magee, J., David. (2014). Myotomes of The Upper Limb. Orthopedic Physical Assessment. 6th Edition, pp 177. Saunders. Edmonton: Alberta, Canada.