The Swallows Australian Edition Magazine

Occupational Therapy
in Head and Neck
Cancer - Jodie Nixon
Occupational Therapy
Treatment for head and neck cancer can be a
distressing experience for some and can affect
the way you do your everyday activities.
Occupational Therapy can work with you to
help you maintain or maximise your
independence, enabling you to do the things
that are meaningful to you. The treatment, and
side effects may affect your everyday
functioning; we can support you with
strategies to make this as smooth as possible
for you.
We know that people who have a good
balance with self-care, work (paid and unpaid),
leisure and sleep, manage treatment and
recovery, so that they can get back into doing
the things that are important to them.
Tips & Tricks
• Self-care: make sure you are safe when you
doing things such as showering, dressing. An
excellent website that can show you useful
adaptive devices that might help is
https://lifetec.org.au/
• Work (paid or unpaid): most work places will
support a graded return to work after treatment
for cancer, sometimes you need to pace
yourself. Talk to your doctor or occupational
therapist about time frames and strategies for
returning to work.
• Fatigue Management: most people
experience some form of fatigue during
treatment and recovery for head and neck
cancer
- Staying active during treatment can help the
way you manage treatment, however its
equally important to say No if things are getting
too much
- Pace the way you do things e.g. mow the
front lawn one day, then the back the next
• Leisure: sometimes when health care gets
overwhelming, it is easy to stop doing the
things that give you enjoyment. However, we
know that doing meaningful things in your
every-day routine give you purpose and can
bring balance. Some suggestions:
- start (or restart)doing your favourite things:
fishing, knitting, going to the rugby
- visit with friends, family or your community
groups who make you feel supported
- maybe its time to explore new leisure
interests: relaxation, volunteering
• Sleep: sleep can be affected by treatment,
medications, and challenges with breathing.
- Try to keep the a similar sleep/wake cycle- go
to bed and get up around the same time most
days
- adjust the sleep environment: make sure the
room is a comfortable temperature and
minimise noise
- avoid naps during the day if it is impacting
your sleep at night
• Relaxation: Going through cancer treatment
can be a distressing experience. Relaxation or
meditation are techniques that can assist to
give a balance to the stress of undergoing or
recovering from treatment for head and neck
cancer. There are different techniques that can
be used, and sometimes it may be worthwhile
to try a few different techniques before you find
the one that works for you.
• Stay active- people who stay active during
treatment seem to manage the side effects
and have an easier recovery period. The
current guidelines recommend at least 30
minutes a day of physical activity. This can be
anything activity that you enjoy, whether its
walking the dog, going to the gym, or working
in the garden.
• Be kind to yourself- going through head and
neck cancer treatment and the recovery can
be a distressing time. Make sure you are kind
to yourself, remember to do things that give
you pleasure, such as walking along the
waterfront, stop and appreciate the flowers,
and remember if things are getting a little
tough talk to a friend, the head and neck
cancer support group or health professionals.
You don’t have to do it alone.
Jodie Nixon, Clinical Team Leader, Occupational
Therapy Team Cancer Care,
Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane
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