Therapy is one strong word; it means to relieve or cure a disorder. The physical or mental obstacles that a person faces while completing routine tasks, can be remedied by means of examination, diagnosis and rehabilitation through physical therapy or physiotherapy. The mental distress and conditions are assessed and healed with the help of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy while the physically disabled or injured can be healed by physiotherapy.
While Physiotherapy is the means to enable a person with injuries or disabilities to operate on their own once again, occupational therapy helps people with amputations or paraplegia to resourcefully use the remaining part of their limb or body so that it doesn’t lose its function completely. Moreover, as the name suggests, Occupational therapy provides people with disabilities an opportunity to develop, recover or maintain doing meaningful activities, or Occupations so they don’t forget their purpose in life. Common occupational therapy interventions embrace helping disabled children to participate thoroughly in school and social circumstances, injury reclamation, and supporting older adults who are going through rough physical and cognitive changes.
Let’s look at the respective areas that will help differentiate physical and occupational therapy further. Physiotherapy tends to the injuries or illness that limits a person’s abilities to perform regular activities. They go through patients’ history, then examine them further and after a certain diagnosis develop a plan to deal with it. In severe cases, it includes laboratory results and imaging techniques as X-ray, CT-scan, MRI etc. to conclusively decide the best possible treatment for the patient. While physiotherapy has many applications, the basic types include:
- Musculoskeletal Therapy
- Orthopedic Therapy
- Cardiopulmonary Therapy
- Neurological Therapy
- Endocrinological Therapy
- Geriatric Physical Therapy
- Pediatric Physical Therapy
- Sports Medicine Therapy
- Wound care Therapy
- Women’s Health
- Electromyography
On the other hand, Occupational Therapy has exercises that allow the patient to spend their time in a productive way by indulging in meaningful activities that helps to “occupy” their time. These occupations can be aspirational, task-oriented, purposeful, socially relevant, individually tailored, role specific, or community-based, depending on one’s beliefs, values, context, and surroundings. Some of the main categories include:
- Activities of daily life
- Instrumental activities of daily life
- Rest and Sleep
- Education
- Seeking employment
- Job performance
- Retirement adjustment
- Play
- Leisure activities
- Social participation
Both Physiotherapy and Occupational therapy are modes of healing, to create a way for bereaved individuals with serious conditions to get back to their normal lives. At Vivid Medical Centre, our main goal is to give such people an opportunity. Our state-of-the-art machines and qualified professionals will help them in every step of their journey and gradually bring them to the point where they wouldn’t need any further assistance. They will eventually overcome their hurdles and learn to be independent once again.