What is the difference between physical therapy and occupational therapy?
One common question patients ask is, “What is the difference between physical therapy and occupational therapy?” If you are a PT or an OT, you have had to answer this question repeatedly.
In this article, we are providing a resource for patients as well as PTs and OTs as we answer the question: “What is the difference between physical therapy and occupational therapy?
What is Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy is evidenced-based therapy that helps patients to restore movement and function to their bodies. It can be used to improve lung capacity, reduce pain during recovery, help patients prevent future injury, and restore motion to a particular area of the body.
What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy is evidenced-based therapy that focuses on restoring patients to their occupations. The focus is on returning an individual to their daily activities, from work to play to running errands.
Compare and contrast: physical therapy and occupational therapy
While both therapies help patients return to everyday activities, they address different issues and the therapies used are substantially different.
Here are five common disabilities, injuries, or other difficulties treated by both PT and OT, along with some of the therapies that might be used to treat these issues.
(Please note, this is not a medical document, and we are not making medical recommendations, these examples are used only for demonstration purposes.)
1. Traumatic Brain Injury
PT: A physical therapist might work with a patient who has suffered a traumatic brain injury to relearn the physical motions of standing, walking, and moving from one type of movement to another (for example, moving from sitting to standing).
OT: An occupational therapist might have goals for the patient’s executive function ability, memory improvement, and independent living skills. They could work with the patient to enable them to feed themselves, help with memory exercises, and practice conversational skills.
2. Musculoskeletal Injury
PT: A physical therapist will likely help the patient to recover range of motion, strengthen and stretch muscles, and share ways the patient can protect their injury during the healing process.
OT: An occupational therapist will focus on patient independence, helping them to relearn skills that allow them to take care of themselves, perform tasks needed for their job, teach a patient how to use supports to help the injury heal, and help the patient learn alternative actions, so they do not reinjure themselves.
3. Arthritis
PT: There are many ways that physical therapists can assist with arthritis. The methods depend on the type of arthritis and how advanced it is. A PT may teach the patient about body mechanics to prevent pain, work to improve mobility, provide strength-build exercises, and show the patient how to use medical supports.
OT: An occupational therapist may focus on maintaining and increasing the range of motion and show the patient how to properly rest an arthritic area so they can use the joint more effectively and painlessly.
An OT may also teach the patient the best way to use external modalities to support arthritis. Things like heat and cold, compression garments, and other assistive devices. They can also provide ergonomic assessments and show patients how to use ergonomic devices to prevent pain properly.
4. Chronic Pain
PT: Chronic pain can come from many different places, and a PT will focus on addressing the source of the chronic pain directly. This may be done through inflammation-reducing supports, muscle training, motions to rebuild affected areas, and more.
OT: An occupational therapist might help an individual find painless ways to do an action, show them how to use supports that don’t hurt the affected area, and find pain-free alternatives to a particular motion. An OT is an expert in observing how the patient interacts with the world – and finding ways for them to still perform things they need to do while providing additional support.
5. Neuromuscular Disease or Injury
PT: All neuromuscular diseases or injuries present differently, so PTs build plans based on the patient’s needs. A PT working with someone suffering from a neuromuscular disease or injury might provide strength, endurance, or mobility training exercises. They may also use traction, deep tissue massage, hot/cold compresses, and more to help reduce inflammation.
OT: OTs will likely focus on the actions that a person needs to do in their day-to-day, so they might work on gross motor training or flexibility training while also finding ways to perform sensory re-integration.
There are many ways that physical therapy and occupational therapy work in partnership to provide the best support and recovery for an injury, disease, illness, or difference. At FeldCare Connects, we are proud to work with dedicated therapists who help home-health patients recover from all kinds of medical challenges.
If you are a PT or OT looking for PRN therapy work, get in touch with the FeldCare Connects team! We partner with PTs, OTs, and home health agencies to connect therapists with by-contract work.
Reach out to FeldCare Connects to kickstart your journey in home health now! Either call us at (818) 926-9057, or go to feldcareconnects.com/clinicians
