Transcript
Hi, I am Dr. Liz Plowman.
Today I would like to talk about the differences between physical and occupational therapy.
Physical therapy and occupational therapy are two different professions, but we do have a lot of professional overlap, and we actually do work a lot together.
Physical therapy is going to be more focused on global movements. Those would be the larger muscle groups, mobility, balancing, walking, transferring, lifting, and improving physical activity. That would fall into the auspice of physical therapy. Occupational therapy is more focused on the specific activities that one would do. These would be more focused on how to brush one’s hair, how to write, how to handle things in the kitchen, how to cook, how to feed, how to figure out how to brush your own teeth, how to dress, and how to make that a little bit easier. That falls into occupational therapy. As I said, there is overlap. There are things that occupational therapists, or OTs, do that involves general movement and mobility, and there are things that PTs do that get into those more specific living activities. We work very, very well together. But I like to use the analogy if you think about—if one is in the hospital setting, the physical therapist is going to get you walking down the hall. The occupational therapist will make sure that you got dressed first. Physical therapy focuses on the larger muscle groups: the core, the back, the hips, the shoulders, and the legs. General movement¬—balancing, walking, mobility transfers, getting in and out of a chair, general strength, endurance conditioning, etc.
Occupational therapy focuses more on specific activities of daily living—so working on modifying how one brushes the hair, brushes the teeth, grooms, feeds, ordering equipment to make those activities a little bit easier. Dressing, how to hook and fasten buttons.
For example, if you’re having issues with strength in the arms, how to get a shirt on, how to get that on over the head, how to fasten behind the back, how to get a belt around, things like that—those specific dressing-type activities fall more into occupational therapy.
So, big movement, think physical therapy. Little movement, think occupational therapy.
Physical therapy would look different for each person with myasthenia gravis depending on where they are in their journey, but it can be beneficial from down to simple things like preventing falls and energy conservation, all the way to improving physical activity, exercising, and enjoying those fun, outdoor activities.
I hope you found this video helpful. If you have any questions about myasthenia gravis or physical therapy, please talk to your health care provider.
