Questions to Ask an OT
Questions for an adult in occupational therapy for their own injury or condition, covering the plan, the home programme, pain and pacing, splints and equipment, work adjustments, and what happens after discharge.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What is the goal here, described as something I do in a normal day?
Why ask it
Occupational therapy is measured in tasks: driving, typing for an hour, carrying shopping, washing your own hair. If the stated goal is a range of movement figure rather than an activity, ask what that number is supposed to let you do.
What is limiting me most right now?
Why ask it
Strength, range, pain, sensation, endurance, and technique all look like the same difficulty from the outside and need different work. Knowing which one dominates tells you why the exercises look the way they do.
What does the plan look like over the next month?
Why ask it
You are asking for stages rather than a list of exercises, so you can tell whether you are on track. A therapist who cannot describe the next four weeks is working session to session.
How many sessions do I have, and how should we spend them?
Why ask it
Insurance or service limits are usually known from the start. Once you know the number, you can ask for time spent teaching you to progress the programme yourself rather than on supervised repetition.
What am I doing at home, how often, and how long should it take?
Why ask it
Ask for a version that fits a working day, with a priority order. Home programmes that need forty minutes get abandoned in the second week and the therapist is left guessing why progress stalled.
How do I tell soreness I should keep working through from pain I should stop for?
Why ask it
Ask for a specific rule you can apply alone: an intensity, a duration, or a sign such as swelling or pain that persists into the next morning. Without one, people either stop too early or push into a flare.
What should I expect to feel afterwards, and when does that become a problem?
Why ask it
Some ache after activity is expected; swelling, numbness, or pain that lasts overnight is not. Getting the boundary in advance saves a week of guessing and an unnecessary cancellation.
How should I pace a day so I do not lose the next one?
Why ask it
For fatigue and pain conditions, how you distribute activity matters more than how much you do. Ask for a concrete pattern, such as splitting a task into two blocks, rather than advice to listen to your body.
What can I change today about my desk, kitchen, or car?
Why ask it
Adjusting the setup usually produces faster relief than exercise does: chair and screen height, where heavy items are stored, how you get in and out of a seat. Ask for two changes to make before the next appointment.
Which equipment or splints are worth buying, and which will I stop using in a month?
Why ask it
A good therapist will tell you which items are temporary and which are worth spending money on, and will often have samples to try. Buying from an online list without a fitting is how drawers fill with unused aids.
If I have a splint, when is it on and when is it off?
Why ask it
Wear schedules are specific to the injury and the healing stage, and both over-wearing and under-wearing cause problems. Get it written down, including what to do at night and for washing.
Which tasks should I hand over for now, and which should I keep struggling with?
Why ask it
Avoiding a task can protect healing or can entrench disuse, depending on which task it is. Asking for the split prevents you from guarding an arm that needs using or overloading one that needs rest.
What can you write for my employer, and what adjustments should I ask for?
Why ask it
A therapist's written recommendation carries weight that your own request does not, and they know the standard adjustments: modified duties, altered hours, equipment, a phased return. Ask what evidence your workplace usually needs.
If your advice conflicts with what my surgeon or physio said, whose do I follow?
Why ask it
Conflicting instructions after surgery are common, particularly around movement restrictions. Ask who holds the protocol for your case and how they will resolve the disagreement between them.
How will we know this is working, and what will we re-measure?
Why ask it
Ask for the specific test or score that gets repeated and when. Without a repeat measure, both of you end up relying on how you happen to feel on the day of the appointment.
What do we do if I stop improving?
Why ask it
Plateaus are normal and have several standard responses: changing the loading, addressing pain differently, referring back to the doctor, or shifting to adapting the task. Knowing the options prevents a stall being read as failure on your part.
What should I tell you about between sessions, and how?
Why ask it
Ask what counts as worth reporting, such as a flare, a new area of pain, or numbness, and whether to phone or note it for the next visit. Delays in reporting the wrong symptom cost the most time.
Is there anything that could make this worse that I would not think of?
Why ask it
Answers are often unexpected and practical: how you sleep, how you carry a bag, a repeated movement at work, or a stretch someone else recommended. This question tends to save more progress than any exercise.
What does the end of this look like, and what do I keep doing afterwards?
Why ask it
Many gains fade if maintenance stops, so ask for the reduced programme you will continue and for how long. Also ask what would justify coming back.
What is the one thing that matters most this week?
Why ask it
It forces a priority out of a long plan, which is what you will actually remember on Wednesday. If the answer is a list, ask which item comes first.
Getting more out of each session
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to prepare
Bring the task, not the diagnosis
Describe the exact movement that fails: gripping a kettle, holding a phone to your ear, twenty minutes at a keyboard before the ache starts. Therapists build plans from tasks, and specifics change the plan.
Keep a short log
A line a day on what you did, what hurt, and how long it lasted turns guesswork into a pattern. It is also the fastest way to show that a flare followed a particular activity rather than the exercises.
Do the practice in front of them once
Perform the home exercise in the session so errors get corrected before you rehearse them for a fortnight. Ask them to watch you do the real task too, not just the exercise.
Ask for it in writing
Wear schedules, pain rules, and work recommendations are easy to misremember by the following week. A written sheet also helps if an employer or insurer asks for evidence.
Two short sequences
First appointment
- 1What is the goal, described as something I do in a normal day?
- 2What is limiting me most right now?
- 3How many sessions do I have, and how should we spend them?
- 4What am I doing at home, and how long should it take?
When progress stalls
- 1What have we re-measured, and what did it show?
- 2Is anything I am doing outside sessions holding this back?
- 3What do we change if I do not improve in two weeks?
- 4Should anyone else be looking at this?
Common pitfalls
Saving it all up for the session
Twelve supervised sessions cannot substitute for daily practice. If the programme is not fitting into your week, say so and ask for a shorter version rather than reporting that it went fine.
Working through pain silently
Pushing into pain and then cancelling appointments hides the cause. Report the flare and what preceded it, and let the plan be adjusted.
Buying equipment before it is fitted
Splints and aids that are the wrong size or worn at the wrong times can slow recovery. Try them with the therapist first.
Stopping the moment the pain goes
Pain usually resolves before capacity returns, and returning to full activity at that point is the most common cause of a second episode. Ask what to keep doing for the following months.