The ultimate focus of rehabilitative treatments is to enhance and avoid the deterioration of quality of life caused by trauma, surgery, or illness. Occupational therapy and Physical therapy are two major types of rehabilitative treatments. While they are the part of same post-treatment care, they include many similarities. But to accurately meet the needs of your loved one, it is important to know the key differences between these two approaches for giving a fruitful rehabilitative treatment.
Occupational Therapy:
- Occupational therapists (OT) emphasize altering or adjusting to the routine activities that are required for a particular patient or changing daily activities that a person is required or is eager to do. They may accomplish this by modifying the setting, routine activity, or by changing the abilities of the patient. These abilities include minor but key activities usually related to the upper body. They are important for many routine actions such as picking up a mug, brushing the teeth, eating with the spoon or fork, wearing a dress, driving, using the phone, and many more. For individuals with mental trauma, OT may help adapt positive tactics that enhance their mental abilities for being successful in their life.
- OT helps patients to improve their quality of life and reduce their dependency on loved ones. It may be recovering from an injury or aiding children with delays in mental and physical abilities for adjusting to their daily lives. OT can take compassionate care right from childhood to a complete lifetime. They design and execute therapies by a smooth blend of physical, sensitive, and other external aspects that impact the essential activities,
- Occupational therapy is highly used in a home-care environment as it mainly links to the functionalities of this treatment. An occupational therapist will completely research your current skills, dependency on equipment in routine activities, and the accessibility of various elements in the home. Depending on the above analysis the experts will plan a specific therapy by altering all the key aspects.
Physical Therapy
- Physical therapy (PT) involves overall improvement of quality of life by appropriate exercise, education, and individual care. They perform an accurate treatment to get back the patients moving. Along with assisting to restore movement, they also work to negate pain, enhancing the gross motor skills and reducing dependency. Gross motor skills are usually settled in childhood and are key in synchronization and motion of legs, arms, and other big body parts.
- This therapy involves restoring these activities in patients who have undergone a jolt on gross motor skills. PT focuses on crafting precise treatment strategies that aid in improving the movement of patients and avoid expansive methods like surgeries or long-term pain-reducing medications. This treatment will not only focus on rehabilitative care but also reduce the chances of any injuries in the future. They also work as emotionally inspiring characters who motivate the patients during recovery.
- PT can be performed in a home care environment, but effective treatment is carried out at a clinic due to the need for various devices required for overall treatment. It may be necessary to provide the PT in a home care environment especially during the initial stages of the treatment if the patient is in high discomfort. But with gradual improvements, it is key to have this treatment in a physiotherapy clinic to take the patient to next level of recovery.
How To Differentiate Between Occupational And Physical Therapy?
Typically, physical therapy emphasizes on overall motion of the body. For instance, if a person has become immobile due to any trauma, PT will look to make them move by including fitness, stretching, and movement programs. Occupational therapy emphasizes working precisely on fine movements that help patients to perform routine tasks ranging from easy to tougher activities.
How Do Choose Between Occupational Therapy And Physical Therapy?
In many situations, it may be hard to choose between occupational therapy and physical therapy. You may also need the help of both to accurately recover from your injury or illness by timely expert interventions. It is always better to take the advice of an expert in getting the best treatment as per your requirements.
- The occupational therapy will exclusively take care of restoring skills for actions needed or routine living like eating, bathing, cooking dressing, and many more. It is focused on taking back your life to reduce functional dependency. It is also key for some people who performed exclusive jobs like holding a bat after the surgery of your arm or hand. Physical therapy is needed to work on the overall movement of the body by exclusively working on concerning injury or ailment.
- Occupational therapy is unique from physical therapy since it does not only focus on repairing the muscles but it works on training the mental ability to perform a specific activity with the muscles. They combine the mental and physical aspects to function with sensory integration. It also applies to aged people who do not want to spend time at hospitals but and be at home with assisted living. Along with assisting such people, they also help individuals with traumatic injuries for getting back into professional and routine life.
Final Thoughts:
If you’re improving from an illness or injury, you may require occupational therapy, physical therapy, or both. You might be in a tricky situation to know if you need one or both of them and how each treatment may be a life savior. So, it is better to consult an expert like Nova HHC who can offer both types of therapies and combine them to ensure your overall recovery. We offer exclusive physical therapy and expert occupational therapy solutions to take care of your loved one. The experts will constantly aid in restoring the dependency and movements, as you can accomplish precise goals in performing daily activities. Our team will educate you about the techniques that store energy and offers maximum flexibility. Moreover, we analyze your living environment and provide the best advice to live in the setting safely.
