September 8th was World PT Day and we wanted to write a little bit about our partners in the rehab world: Physical Therapists (PTs). PTs are an incredible asset to any rehabilitation team…and their name does NOT refer to “pain and torture,” a joke we hear so often 🤓

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Similar to OTs, PTs can work in all different settings and with all different types of people and diagnoses. In fact, many people wonder what is the difference between PT and OT? These rehabilitation professionals are simultaneously VERY similar and VERY different. There is a lot of overlap between the two disciplines, which can make things confusing! However, as a rule of thumb, physical therapists are more focused on the PHYSICAL rehabilitation part of recovery while occupational therapists are focused more on the FUNCTIONAL rehabilitation part of recovery. However, because these two things are so intertwined, there can be a lot of similarities between OT and PT.

PTs help people regain their strength, endurance, flexibility, coordination, and mobility after an incident, illness, or degenerative diagnosis with the goal of maintaining and improving mobility.

OTs help people gain back their functional skills so they can return to doing their daily activities with the most independence. We provide lots of education and training on building strength, endurance, flexibility, coordination, and functional mobility. OTs help you re-learn to do the things you love and improve on daily skills that may be impaired.

OT and PT work great as individual disciplines, but work best together. Having a team responsible for both of these aspects of recovery is crucial for a successful outcome!

So, what does PT do, specifically?

PTs work on a variety of different skills and individual needs. PTs can teach someone how to walk after a surgery or accident or help them clear their airways if they have trouble keeping their lungs clear with illness or disease. They can help people within specialties like lymphedema therapy for breast cancer survivors or even help people with Parkinson’s move around more safely. PTs can help an older adult learn to get out of their car again after a hip replacement. Or, they will help an individual use their prosthetic leg and learn to walk with this new piece of their body. PTs can work with children and teach them balance and coordination skills. They can teach children how to walk, stepping heel to toe and teach them how to jump, bike, and run so they can play like other children. They can teach someone with a spinal cord injury how to play the sport they love again with an adapted approach. PTs help you become stronger so you can become YOU again.

This is just a SMALL taste of all of the wonderful things physical therapists do. The goal of our blog post this week is to say THANK YOU to our physical therapist colleagues, mentors, and friends. You make our clients successful and our jobs as OTs smoother.

Be sure to thank your physical therapist today and recognize all they do to make the WORLD a better place!

You can see client testimonials and client progress videos on our website and social media pages to show the progress you can make WITHOUT going to a clinic or having someone move for you. The movement originates from YOU.