by Marla Knox, Recreation Therapist, CTRS, MA
Balboa Navel Medical Center
Recreational therapy is a treatment service designed to restore, remediate and rehabilitate a person's level of functioning and independence in life activities, to promote health and wellness as well as reduce or eliminate the activity limitations and restrictions to participation in life situations cause by an illness or disabling condition.
It is important that you know what the recreation therapy goals are for tennis therapy program, what I am looking for as a CTRS and what a progress note looks like (goes in the patients' charts).
Patient attended a 60 minute tennis activity at Balboa Tennis Club for recreation therapy today. Patient's recreation therapy goals include:
Physically
- increased physical fitness
- overall upper extremity strength and endurance
- enhance wheelchair mobility and maneuverability using sports wheelchair
Socially
- decrease stress relating to injury and ongoing recovery progress
- increase opportunities for patient to meet other combat injured peers
- feel more comfortable meeting and socializing with new people i.e. military, community volunteers, etc.
Recreationally
- Introduce patient to new forms of physical and recreation activities prior to injury as well as reconnect patient to activities he enjoyed prior to injury
- Increase knowledge about various adapted sports equipment and sports
- Patient demonstrated good endurance and agility, moving laterally, up and back during forehand and backhand drills with pro instructor while using wheelchair
- Patient displayed ability to utilize good eye hand coordination, making contact with the tennis ball 90% of time.
- Patient appeared to be at ease during activity and at lunch
- Met several new people including patients, tennis pros and volunteers
- Patient able to socialize appropriately at activity and at lunch with others and did not demonstrate visible anxiety or stress
- Patient's wife also attended and participated in today's treatment activity