Physical and occupational therapy are two professions with many similarities, but also a few key differences. Both fields help patients improve their strength, mobility, and independence, although they center their focus in different areas of patient care.
There are many differences in the patients that PTs and OTs treat, the scopes of practice, and the education required to become a PT or OT. Occupational therapy started as a profession from a background of both mental and physical rehabilitation whereas physical therapy developed purely based on recovery from physical injuries, diseases, and disabilities. Physical therapists must complete a doctorate degree while occupational therapists must complete a Master’s degree to practice.
OTs focus on improving a patient’s function through addressing fine and gross motor skills as well as the psychological impacts a patient may encounter post injury. OTs work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, school systems, skilled nursing facilities, or outpatient therapy settings. Some OTs will go a step further and specialize in the treatment of the upper extremity as a hand therapy. They are able to create custom orthoses and provide splinting to promote an optimal recovery and maximize functional gain of the hand.
OTs specialize in the function of fine motor skills of the hand, such as gripping objects, feeding, dressing, grooming, and buttoning shirts. OT’s partner with patients to improve their outlook on rehabilitation through the development of coping strategies, activity modifications, and through adaptive equipment to maximize a patient’s success. In summary, OTs focus on restoring and maximizing function through valued daily occupations (activities).
PTs focus more on the overall mobility of their clients and tasks such as walking, getting into and out of bed, running, and stair negotiation. PTs work on improving their patient’s understanding of their mobility limitations, injury, or disease process and prescribe exercises to help achieve their goals. PTs help with gross motor skills, such as walking or lifting, and help patients move around like they used to…without pain!
OTs may collaborate with PT when they need to assist a patient with mobility as it correlates to function, like getting to/from the toilet, transferring from bed to chair, bathing, or meal preparation where a patient must be mobile and stable as they work through a valued and vital daily task. PTs and OTs do often work together with the same patients and even occasionally treat patients together!