Occupational Therapy vs. Physical Therapy

Alysia VerhagenLibrary 1210-05/09Winter 200903/10/09

What is occupational therapy?

•“Occupational therapy may be defined as any activity, mental or physical, definitely prescribed and guided for the distinct purpose of contributing to and hastening recovery from disease or injury.” – Dr. H.A. Pattinson (One of the first occupational therapists in the year 1921) (Dunton pp. 4)

What is occupational therapy? Cont.

• Even though Dr. Pattison defined the term “occupational therapy” very well, however for those of us who know absolutely nothing about the field, his definition may be considered just gibberish

• So, in a nutshell, occupational therapy is basically the treatment of all types of individuals who may be suffering from all types of different disease, or abnormalities physically or mentally

Occupational Therapy Fun by Pricedawna on flicr

What types of patients are needed for occupational therapy?

•There are many different types of patients that occupational therapists treat and some of the abnormalities may include: (Pierson pp. 1)▫Autism▫Severe hand damage▫Learning disabilities▫Burns▫Rheumatoid arthritis▫Birth defects of all types▫Traumatic amputations▫Multiple Sclerosis

My hands after climbing by Orvaq on flckr

What is physical therapy?

•Physical therapy literally means “treatment of physical agents” (Krumhansl pp. 1)

•This definition basically means that physical therapists treat patients who have more physical needs

•Patients who are in need of physical therapy and do not get treatment have a possibility that their condition may worsen if left untreated (Krumhansl pp. 2)

What do physical therapists do?

• “Physical therapists provide services that help restore function, improve mobility, relieve pain, and prevent or limit permanent disabilities of patients suffering from injuries or disease. They restore, maintain and promote overall fitness and health.” –Occupational Outlook Handbook (Krumhansl pp. 2)

082108joshruchotzke09_flickr by Matt Buedel on flickr

What types of patients are needed for physical therapy?

•Just like occupational therapy, there are many types of patients that physical therapists treat, however overall physical therapists treat patients with: (Manternach pp. 1)▫Genetic disorders▫Heart and lung conditions▫Head trauma▫Lung deficiencies ▫Muscle diseases▫Orthopedic deficiencies

Calcified No.2 by Prof. Jas. Mundie on flckr

So… What’s the difference?• From the slides, I am

sure you can determine the many differences, however the main difference is that physical therapy deals with the physical strength of an individual and general motor skills needed for everyday life, such as walking, and occupational therapy deal with mental strength and fine motor skills, such as picking up a needle and writing (Pierson pp. 1)

0))) by Drugo on flickr

Day 3- I write by snorrlax on flickr

Are there any similarities between the two fields?• Yes there are actually• Sometimes a physical and occupational

therapists need to work together• The most common example is when a

patient becomes paralyzed from the waist down

• The physical therapists teaches the patient how to get in and out of their wheelchair with using just their arms and the patient is constantly working the patient’s upper body strength (Dunton pp. 15)

• Then the occupational therapist takes over and teaches the patient how to use their hands to their best ability, for example grasping a small object or writing, because a majority of the time the patient has also suffered from some type of traumatic experience and the occupational therapist if there to help the patient with that recovery as well (Dunton pp. 15)

Beauty ES 111 by Mamooneleg on flickr

CitationsDunton, W. R. (1957). History of occupational therapy.

Occupational therapy principles and practice (2nd ed., pp. 3-13). Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher

Dunton, W.R. (1957). Kinetic occupational therapy. Occupational therapy principles and practice (2nd ed., pp. 14- 25). Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher

Krumhansl, B. (2000) History and overview of physical therapy. In K. Siebel (Ed.), Opportunities in physical therapy careers (pp. 1-23). United States: VGM Career Books.

Manternach, K. (January 2008). Physical Therapy. Retrieved March 08, 2009 from http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/ill/phys_therapy.html

Pierson, K.S., (October 2007). Occupational therapy. Retrieved March 08, 2009 from http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/ill/occupational_therapy.html

The End