What is Occupational Therapy?
It is called OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY (OT) because of the emphasis it places upon the importance of one’s “occupation”. Occupation is defined as functional tasks and activities performed throughout life that are meaningful and purposeful to the individual.
The purpose of Occupational Therapy is to help the individual increase their functional independence in daily life while preventing or minimizing disability.
OT customizes each intervention to improve a person's ability to perform daily activities and to reach their goals. OTs perform measurable outcomes to evaluate the person's abilities and progress towards the goals. The outcome evaluation also help the therapist to understand if an intervention plan must be changed to obtain a goal.
Occupational Therapists work with persons who have disabilities from stroke or other neurological disorders, traumatic injuries, surgery, sports injuries, arthritis and generalized weakness.
What is the difference between OT and PT?
The main difference between Occupational Therapy and physical therapy is that OT focuses on improving a person's ability to perform activities of daily living whether that be by improving the quality of movement or providing adaptations to make a goal attainable. PT focuses on improving a person's ability to perform movement of the human body. OT and PT commonly work together with a holistic approach to improving a person's quality of life while minimizing disability.
