Importance: There is a need for evidence to support occupation-based intervention (OBI) for older adults with shoulder osteoarthritis (OA).~Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of OBI on function in older adults with shoulder OA compared to therapeutic exercise (TE).~Design: Randomized controlled trial. Six-week intervention. 1-week and 4-week follow-up.~Setting: Outpatient clinic. Participants: Ten older adults with diagnosis of shoulder OA via convenience sampling.~Intervention: Participants were seen two times/week for six weeks. The OBI group completed 30 minutes of TE followed by 30 minutes of OBI. The TE group completed 60 minutes of TE.~Outcome and Measures: Functional outcomes were assessed at pre-, 1-week post, and 4-weeks posttreatment using the QuickDASH as the primary outcome measure.
As a registered and licensed occupational therapist, I completed a six-week evidence based research study to determine the effects of occupation-based intervention and therapeutic exercises versus therapeutic exercises alone.