Therapy and Wellness | Ochsner Health (2025)

Physical therapy focuses on improving mobility, strength and function. It uses exercises, stretches and other activities to help your body work better if you have an injury or medical condition that impairs your function. Physical therapy helps you get stronger and move better.

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Occupational therapy helps you do everyday things easier. It focuses on improving fine motor skills, memory and mental processing, and sensory processing to help people to participate in their daily occupations. Occupational therapy can also help you adapt you environments, movements and tasks to support greater independence.

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Speech therapy, also known as speech-language pathology, focuses on communication and swallowing disorders. It helps people improve communication through speaking and language skills, fluency and voice quality. Therapists also work on swallowing difficulties caused by conditions like Parkinson's disease or premature birth in babies.

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Orthopedic physical therapy is all about helping your bones, muscles and joints work their best. If you've had an injury or surgery, orthopedic therapy can help you heal faster and get back to doing things you enjoy. Orthopedic physical therapy could benefit you if you have one or more of the following:

• Back and spine injury
• Work injury or occupational health concern
• Total joint replacement
• Hip replacement
• Sudden pain
• Difficulty with movement

Neurologic rehabilitation is like a special workout for your brain and nerves. It's for people who have had problems with their brain or nervous system, like a stroke or injury. This type of rehab helps them relearn skills and movements that might have been affected. It uses exercises and activities designed to improve balance, coordination and strength. Neurologic rehabilitation may be right for those who have been diagnosed with one of the following:

• Stroke or TIA (mini-stroke)
• ALS
• Brain or spinal cord injury
• Concussion
• Parkinson's disease
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Huntington’s disease
• Other progressive neurological diseases

At Ochsner, our approach to neurologic rehab is multi-disciplinary and combines physical, occupational and speech therapies along with collaborative physician care.

If you love playing sports but got hurt, sports physical therapy can help you get back in the game. It focuses on treating injuries from sports activities, like sprains, strains or fractures. It can even help you recover from a sports-related surgery. A physical therapist guides you through exercises and techniques tailored to your sport and injury.

Our sports therapy team treats the issues that plague the pros and weekend warriors alike:

• ACL injuries
• Running injuries
• Throwing injuries
• Surgical rehabilitation

We also take an interdisciplinary approach, working closely with athletic trainers and orthopedic doctors to treat the whole athlete. Our extensive care also includes:

• Return to activity program
• Gait lab
• Athletic training partnerships
• Sideline support
• Ochsner Andrews Sports Medicine Institute partnership

But sports PT isn't just about fixing the injury. It's also about preventing future ones. By teaching you how to move better and stay strong while playing sports, physical therapy can leave you feeling even stronger than before.

This type of physical therapy focuses on the unique needs of women's bodies, specifically targeting the health and strength of muscles in the pelvic area.

• Pregnancy and post-partum recovery
• Pain with urination or sex
• Prolapse
• Incontinence
• Men's prostate care

Pediatric therapy is all about helping kids grow, learn and do things on their own. As with adult rehabilitation, it includes physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy - each focusing on different parts of a child's development. While we may think of therapy like exercise, it's all about play when it comes to kids. Your child may benefit from rehabilitation if they are diagnosed with developmental delays, genetic disorders, learning disabilities or Autism.

• Physical Therapy (PT): PT for kids is like playtime that helps them move better. It's for children who might have trouble walking, running or playing. Physical therapists use fun exercises and activities to make muscles stronger, improve balance and help with coordination so kids can move and play more easily.
  
• Occupational Therapy (OT): OT for kids is all about learning skills for everyday activities. It helps with things like writing, getting dressed or using utensils if a child finds those tasks tricky. Occupational therapists use games and activities to teach these skills, making it easier for kids to do things by themselves.
• Speech Therapy (ST): ST is for kids who might have difficulty talking or understanding words. This therapy helps them speak more clearly, improve their language skills and communicate better. It also helps if a child has trouble eating, swallowing or with other mouth movements.

Our team of therapists are dedicated to making growing up a little bit easier - and a lot more fun!

Rehabilitation for chronic pain isn't just about reducing pain: It's about improving daily life despite the pain. At Ochsner Therapy & Wellness, we take a multi-disciplinary approach to chronic pain therapy. Our Functional Restoration and Healthy Back programs center on physical and occupational therapy with supporting education in mindfulness and pain management. These options focus on empowering people by giving them the knowledge and skills to better cope with their pain.

Chronic pain therapies can benefit those with pain from the following:

• Injury or accident
• Surgery recovery
• Fibromyalgia
• Arthritis
• Diabetes

Cancer treatment can take a toll on the body, and rehabilitation plays a crucial role in helping patients recover and regain strength during and after treatment. Rehab for people with cancer focuses on improving physical function and managing treatment side effects to improve your quality of life throughout your journey with cancer. It includes specialized support to address issues like fatigue, weakness, pain and difficulties with movement.

Supporting your traditional clinical treatment methods, our team offers specialized physical and occupational therapy as well as acupuncture and lymphedema care.

By stimulating certain pressure points across the body, acupuncture can help supplement your medical care.

Work with a health coach for 1-on-1 guidance and support in meeting your health and wellness goals.

From classes to help people with Parkinson's disease reclaim their voices to return-to-activity programs for athletes, our wellness services deliver extra support for those who need it.

To help achieve our goal, Ochsner Therapy & Wellness is dedicated to creating advanced training programs for recent graduates in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology. These programs aim to teach the latest scientifically proven methods and offer guidance from experienced therapists who are certified by their professional boards. We also work closely with top doctors in our area to ensure comprehensive care.

Holding close Ochsner's core value of inclusivity, our team regularly participates in local and regional events focused on disability education and disease awareness.

Explore new opportunities with Ochsner Therapy & Wellness. From entry-level positions to experienced clinicians, we're always hiring fresh talent.

At Ochsner, our therapy team members collaborate to ensure every patient receives comprehensive, personalized care. Our services include:

• Integrative wellness. Specialists use complementary, integrative techniques such as acupuncture and cryotherapy to treat pain and improve overall wellness.

• Occupational therapy. Occupational therapists work with patients to improve their ability to participate in activities of living, including bathing, dressing, eating, using adaptive equipment and other activities. We also offer hand therapy, driving evaluations and more.

• Pediatric therapy and wellness. Our dedicated pediatric physical, occupational and speech therapists specialize in working with children who have developmental delays, injuries, diseases and other conditions.

• Physical therapy. Physical therapists help reduce pain and restore mobility through exercises designed to strengthen muscles and improve balance.

• Speech therapy. Speech therapists help patients with speech, language and voice disorders improve their ability to communicate.

Our therapists work closely with physicians to develop the best course of treatment for every patient. For example, patients with Parkinson’s disease may benefit from various forms of therapy, and therapists collaborate with physicians to determine the patient’s needs and coordinate therapy with other forms of treatment.

Our therapists are highly experienced in treating various conditions, including rare diseases. We offer therapy services for pain and loss of function related to:

Musculoskeletal injuries

• Arthritis
• Ankle and foot pain
• Elbow pain
• Fibromyalgia
• Hand pain
• Joint pain
• Knee pain
• Neck and back pain
• Sciatic pain (sciatica)
• Shoulder pain
• Spinal stenosis
• Sports-related injuries
• Tendonitis
• Wrist pain

Work-related injuries

• Functional Capacity Evaluations

Neurological Disorders

• Brain injury
• Concussion
• Dysphagia
• Multiple sclerosis
• Muscular dystrophy
• Parkinson’s disease
• Spinal cord injury
• Stroke
• Vestibular/balance disorders (such as vertigo)

Speech and language disorders

• Aphasia
• Apraxia of speech
• Articulation disorders
• Cognitive disorders
• Fluency disorders
• Language delay
• Swallowing and feeding disorders

Other Diagnoses

• Amputation
• Bladder or bowel dysfunction
• Cancer
• Cerebral palsy
• Lupus
• Lymphedema
• Osteoporosis
• Spina bifida