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What's the difference between Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy
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Bettina’s Answer
Another way of looking at this very simply is that the Physical Therapist helps you get up and walk and the Occupational Therapist helps you clean up and get dressed. Yet another way is that the Physical Therapist helps people with mobility (walking, using a wheelchair or a scooter) and the Occupational Therapist helps people with using their hands for holding things and manipulating things like writing with a pencil. You can work with newborns all the way until a person is near death. You can work with all different sorts of people.
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Kevin’s Answer
Physical therapy is strength, endurance, flexibility, balance as they relate to basic functions such as ambulation, transfers, bed mobility.
Occupational therapy is strength, endurance, flexibility, balance as they relate to activities of daily living. Brushing teeth, cooking, eating, bathing, grooming etc. Occupational also extends, at times, to instrumental activities of daily living such as driving, working, shopping etc.
They both deal with function. In may cases, arms go to OTs, legs go to PTs. This is not the design, but the reality. You will work together to increase total function. PT contributes to ADLs and IADLs, but would never set a specific goal for grooming or dressing. OTs would never set a goal for just physical improvement without it relating to a specific task.
The relationship should never duplicate services on the same patient, but this is a gray area. The reality is that transfer training to increase ability to brush teeth, is the same as transfer training used to increase efficiency and allow for better general mobility. I hope this helps.
Occupational therapy is strength, endurance, flexibility, balance as they relate to activities of daily living. Brushing teeth, cooking, eating, bathing, grooming etc. Occupational also extends, at times, to instrumental activities of daily living such as driving, working, shopping etc.
They both deal with function. In may cases, arms go to OTs, legs go to PTs. This is not the design, but the reality. You will work together to increase total function. PT contributes to ADLs and IADLs, but would never set a specific goal for grooming or dressing. OTs would never set a goal for just physical improvement without it relating to a specific task.
The relationship should never duplicate services on the same patient, but this is a gray area. The reality is that transfer training to increase ability to brush teeth, is the same as transfer training used to increase efficiency and allow for better general mobility. I hope this helps.
Updated
Zach’s Answer
Physical therapy is more focused on developing endurance skills and helping with pain throughout the body. This can be prescribing exercise to someone who is deconditioned or someone who has had a recent surgery on a lower limb or upper body part.
Occupational therapy is more focused on daily activities such as washing their hair, getting dressed, cutting food, lifting a cup of water.
Occupational therapy is more focused on daily activities such as washing their hair, getting dressed, cutting food, lifting a cup of water.
Updated
Bailey’s Answer
Physical therapists and occupational therapists work hand in hand in an outpatient setting. With my clinic, an occupational therapist specializes in elbow, wrist, and hand functions as it relates to ADLs. (activities of daily living)- Things like getting dressed, holding a spoon or fork to eat, or folding laundry. A physical therapist will focus more on the strength, movement and endurance of tasks, such as working. Currently in the state of Indiana, an Occupational Therapist is a Masters degree, with the option to go onto a Doctoral degree. For a Physical therapist the degree requirement for the state of Indiana is a Doctoral program. In an inpatient setting, the physical therapist and the occupational therapist work very closely, and usually treat back to back to help the patient achieve their goals. Occupational therapists can also do wheelchair evaluations ( I just found this out recently myself.) Hope this helps.