Occupational Therapy for Fatigue Management
- Ciara Breen, OT Director
- Dec 30, 2025
- 3 min read
Fatigue management is an area where occupational therapy can make a real, day-to-day difference for people living with long-term health conditions and post-viral syndromes, including Long COVID and neurological illness. Occupational therapists use practical, evidence-based strategies such as energy conservation, activity pacing, and tailored self‑management education to help people do more of what matters most, with less fatigue or other symptoms such as pain or post-exertional malaise in the aftermath.
Why fatigue feels so overwhelming
Fatigue linked to chronic illness, neurological conditions, or post-viral syndromes is much more than just feeling tired after a busy day. It often affects thinking, mood, and the ability to manage everyday tasks like work, parenting, housework, or social life.
Some people describe it as a heavy, whole‑body exhaustion that doesn’t fully improve with sleep or rest. Sometimes, especially when you are new to fatigue, you might fall into what can be known as a “boom–bust” pattern: doing too much on a “good” day, then needing days to recover.
How occupational therapy helps with fatigue
Occupational therapy focuses on helping you live your life—your roles, routines, and meaningful activities—rather than just treating isolated symptoms. For fatigue, that means working together with your therapist to make your day more manageable and sustainable, not just “pushing through” which can often make matter worse.
At The Brí Clinic, we can support you to:
Understand your fatigue pattern: Identify triggers (physical, cognitive, emotional, environmental) and warning signs before a “crash”.
Learn energy conservation strategies such as planning, prioritising, pacing, and positioning to spread energy more evenly through the day and week.
Modify tasks and environments (e.g., sitting to cook, using equipment, simplifying work practices) so you can still achieve what matters without draining your limited energy reserves.
Where it is relevant and requested, we may also develop reports or complete documentation to identify, advocate for, and support changes in your work, school or housing situation.
Evidence-based strategies used in our practice
Research shows that structured fatigue self‑management and energy management education, led by occupational therapists, can reduce fatigue and improve function in a range of long‑term conditions. We do not do "cookie-cutter" therapy at The Brí Clinic: each person's needs are considered and translated into practical, personalised support whether in our group sessions or in one-to-one therapy.
We also know that fatigue often does not occur on its own, and we develop interventions based on the interaction between symptoms which can be complex where this is relevant to the person.
Some of our interventions include:
Education and self‑management
Learning to monitor energy like a “budget,” using tools such as logs, rating scales, or “spoons” to match activity to available energy.
Setting realistic, meaningful goals so changes in your routine actually support the life you want, not just your symptom list.
Energy conservation and pacing
Structuring your day with planned rest breaks, spreading high‑demand tasks across the week, and avoiding the boom–bust cycle.
Using principles like “plan–prioritise–pace–position–permission” to guide decision‑making in real time.
Identifying if some tasks are best avoided and if so how this can be achieved in a different way, or reintroduced at a later stage.
Activity modification
Adapting valued activities (work tasks, parenting, hobbies) so they are shorter, simpler, or just done differently
Identifying tailored strategies for your work or home situation, and
Where appropriate, gradually increasing tolerable activity within your limits, guided by your symptoms and goals
(*** this approach is never used in people who experience post-exertional malaise, but can be appropriately used in other clients who experience fatigue, e,g, after cancer treatment for example)
Benefits you may notice
Studies of OT‑led fatigue programs report improvements in fatigue severity and day‑to‑day functioning for people with conditions such as multiple sclerosis and other chronic health problems.
In practice, clients often report:
More predictable days, with fewer sudden energy “crashes” and better recovery after activity. Stability enables function!
Increased confidence to plan, work, care for family, or enjoy leisure activities, because they understand their limits and how to work within them.
Greater awareness of different types of rest and how to use rest and sleep to support function and balance
Feeling supported and understood
When to consider occupational therapy
If fatigue is forcing you to cancel plans, to cut back work or school, or to give up any activities that are important to you, occupational therapy can help you rebuild your daily life in a safer, more sustainable way. You do not need to “be worse” or “try everything else first” before seeking support—fatigue management is effective for all stages of illness.
To find out whether occupational therapy fatigue management is right for you, consider booking an assessment with Ciara Breen, our OT Director, to identify where we can support you with fatigue management.
You might decide to begin with a one-to-one assessment
or to jump into one of our online group programmes
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