Occupational Therapist vs Physical Therapist: What’s the Difference?

If you’ve ever sustained an injury, chances are you’ve worked with a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, or in some cases, both! However, even if you’ve experienced both occupational therapy and physical therapy, it seems as if both professionals are one in the same and hard to understand the difference. Unless you work in healthcare, chances are you don’t see a difference. Both professions help patients throughout their rehabilitation stage of recovery and improve their quality of life. However, physical therapists and occupational therapists use different approaches and have different goals. In this blog we are going to break down the topic of an occupational therapist vs physical therapist and their differences.

What is a Physical Therapist?

A physical therapist, or a PT, is a healthcare professional that helps improve patients’ quality of life after experiencing an injury, physical trauma, or any other health related conditions that limit their abilities to move or function. PTs examine, diagnose, and treat patients of all ages. Physical therapists are a crucial healthcare team member of a patients’ recovery process. They work alongside physical therapy assistants (PTAs), social workers, nurses, doctors, and surgeons.

Physical therapists will create a recovery plan after assessing a patients’ injury or limitation of movement. Their goal is to reduce pain, improve mobility, and restore function to muscles, joints, and ligaments. Whether it’s post-surgery rehab, recovering from a broken bone, or chronic back pain, PTs create customized exercise programs and manual therapies to help you get back on your feet. PTs will focus on strengthening weak muscles, improving range of motion, reducing inflammation and pain, and preventing further injury.

What is an Occupational Therapist?

Occupational therapists, or OTs, focus on helping patients engage in daily living activities they need and want to do. What does this mean? Let’s say a patient had a stroke and as a result is experiencing issues with being able to dress themselves, brush their teeth, or type on a computer. That’s where an occupational therapist steps in to help the patient regain independence in daily life activities.

OTs will assess the patients’ abilities and limitations then create a plan of action for their recovery process. They work alongside occupational therapy assistants, doctors, nurses, and physical therapists. An occupational therapist will focus on adapting, modifying, or changing daily living activities. These healthcare professionals will provide therapeutic activities, modify environments, and teach compensatory strategies. Patients’ may need occupational therapy after experiencing physical, cognitive, or emotional challenges that result in interfering with daily living activities.

Occupational Therapist vs Physical Therapist: What’s the Difference?

While both healthcare professionals may have many similarities and often work side by side, their goals and strategies for patients differs. While there is some overlap, these are the differences in focus:

• Physical therapists focus on:
  • Movement, strength, and mobility
  • Rehabilitation for muscles, joints, and injury recovery
  • Pain reduction and physical therapy
• Occupational therapists focus on:
  • Daily tasks, fine motor skills, and independence
  • Rehabilitation for routines such as bathing, writing, and working
  • Life adaptation and regaining function

Still slightly confused on their differences? An easy way to help you remember their focus’ is that PT helps you move, and OT helps you “do”.

Both occupational therapists and physical therapists also have a distinct difference in their approach to recovery and the strategies they use.

• Physical therapy strategies: PTs approach rehabilitation in many different ways with a variety of techniques to address impairments, pain management, mobility restoration, and promote functional independence. Some approaches may include balance training, sensory integration, therapeutic exercises and activities, aquatic therapy, and electrical stimulation.
• Occupational therapy strategies: OTs use a well-rounded approach to help patients’ regain independence by looking at physical, mental, emotional, and environmental challenges. In their recovery strategy, they may use adaptive equipment, change environmental factors to better fit their needs, provide sensory integration therapy, or skill-building exercises.

Where do Physical Therapists and Occupational Therapists Work?

Both PTs and OTs work in pretty much the same environments. You can find OTs and PTs in:

• Hospitals
• Outpatient clinics
• Sports medicine facilities
• Schools
• Skilled nursing facilities
• Rehabilitation centers
• Private practices

Interested in seeing how we support occupational and physical therapy staffing in school systems? Visit our physical therapy or occupational therapy staffing page for more information.

Final Thoughts

Both physical therapists and occupational therapists have the same mission but use different tools. While they both practice different techniques, their goal of helping people feel more capable, confident, and independent in their everyday lives. Whether you’re a therapist looking for a rewarding job opportunity, or a facility looking for dependable staff, Horizon Healthcare Staffing is here to support you every step of the way. We staff and hire physical therapists and occupational therapists in New Jersey and New York and are always accepting resumes.

If you’re looking to land a occupational therapist or physical therapist job in New York or New Jersey, apply online today!