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Dancers and athletes have long known the seemingly magical powers of foam rollers. They can help loosen tight hips or knotted quad muscles. Physical and occupational therapists also use them in a number of different ways during sessions with patients. Check out the list below for the clever ways you can use these rollers on your own: Work out shin splints If you feel a mild shooting pain in your shins after hitting the track or the trails, you may have shin splints. You can use your foam roller to work out the pain. Simply kneel on your roller and slowly work it down to your ankle and back up. Make sure not to hit your knees! That could lead you to accidentally hurting yourself, noted Health magazine.

Run up the steps like Rocky. If you’re spending Valentine’s Day in the city of Brotherly Love, there are plenty of opportunities to learn more about the area. Check out the list below for top sites in Philadelphia: Go back in time History buffs flock to this city to learn more about icons like The Liberty Bell and The Declaration of Independence. But if you want to walk through history, stop in to the Eastern State Penitentiary. See where Al Capone was housed and step through a real cell meant to elicit regret for a crime. Shop local The Reading Terminal Market is an expansive indoor market that offers one-of-a-kind foods.

Don’t lose motivation because of muscle soreness. While occupational therapists can help their patients ease their pain and improve their quality of life, experiencing soreness is common after a session with an occupational therapist or after completing exercises at home. While your patients may be tempted to reach for a bottle of ibuprofen, they may find more relief with a natural remedy. Here’s some natural remedies that they can administer at home after their exercises that can help ease soreness and pain. Epsom salts can ease soreness Epsom salts have long been suggested as a remedy to help ease overworked muscles.

These crafts are effective tools as part of a therapy regimen. Developing fine motor skills is important for growing children as well as adults who have experienced trauma such as a motor vehicle accident or internal injury. Whether patients are learning these skills for the first time or relearning them later in life, there are several ways to make the process easier and more enjoyable. These crafts are interesting, stimulating and, above all, effective tools as part of a therapy regimen. Check them out below: 1. Miniature sandbox letters This craft helps with pre-writing skills and can help to strengthen control over the muscle of the hand and wrist. It was recommended by 4K teacher Abby Linwood, writing for the University of Wisconsin.

Sleep deprivation can affect memory retention at a chemical level. Sleep is one of those parts of life that you probably don’t give much thought to, until you have trouble getting some. Even missing a few hours in a night can completely ruin the rest of your day, causing problems at work and at home. Should the problem persist, it can greatly affect your ability to perform tasks and may even make it easier for other ailments to sneak up on you. In fact, a study published in Science Signaling found that sleep deprivation can actually affect memory retention at a chemical level. There are a number of ways that occupational therapists can help their patients manage sleep deprivation and return to a more regular work and life schedule. Here are some strategies that OTs might implement to help their patients sleep easier: