[The role of occupational therapy in rehabilitating injured at work]

The evolution of social and health setting in its demographic, productive and welfare elements make work as a finalized activity oriented to different tasks, from individual indepencence to social integration. In this context, the word "re-habilitation" has a double value; on one hand consideration of lifetime acquired abilities; on the other hand recovery of residual activities, consistent with the disablement. In Italy, for years, rehabilitation activities were performed by physiotherapists, who had inadequate occupational knowledge and preferred technical skills of non-finalized function recovery. The acknowledgment of Occupational Therapist took place in the end of the '90s, so that the few organizations sensitive to Occupational Therapy, as "Fondazione Maugeri" and "Fondazione Don Gnocchi", found "prepared ad hoc" personnel only abroad, above all in Spain and Switzerland. Nowadays we have specific first degree courses, but what really obstacles the development of this field is the economic crisis which afflicts healthcare services and avoids the growth of new sectors.