United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

this may sound really dumb, but what is the difference between physical therapy and occupational therapy? my 7 week old has been in pt since birth, and people keep mentioning ot, but she has not had this. am i missing something? thanks!

pt tends to focus on the whole body (ie rolling over, sitting up, things like that) ot is focused on the hand and arm specifically. My ot differs from pt by focusing on making her use only her affected arm where as my pt lets her use both but makes her roll around and work on her balance. Hope this helps!

Ashley, Kayla's Mom, 7 mos, ROBPI

For Dustin PT worked on large muscles and strengthening while OT worked on fine muscle and daily living skills.
PT taught him to walk again, OT worked on eating, moving the arm, brushing teeth, daily living things he would need to be able to do for himself.
Sue

thanks for the info. we must be doing everything we can - my daughter really doesn't move around much yet, as she is only 7 weeks old. brushing her teeth is not an issue yet her therapist works on both the injured arm and things like tummy time. i feel better now that we are not missing out on an important aspect of her healing. thanks again!

For a little baby, OT is really important because he/she deals with the minutest issues of the arm,hand,fingers, wrist. Your baby might need a splint made even at this age. The PT is also important but for different reasons. As your baby gets older our kids need to learn how to balance themselves and how to fall because the one arm won't protect them for a fall.

Maia needed PT to teach her how to sit up, teach her how to stand up and get her moving. She needed orthotics in her shoes to stop all the falling as she tried to walk...there were big body issues we dealt with. While the OT tended to just her arm and not the rest of her body.

I hope this make sense...
-francine

My son also had pt when he was little. Now he's 18 months and he doesn't have any large motor skill problems so he only gets ot. Whether or not your child continues to need pt also, probably depends on the severity of the injury and how that affects his/her large motor development.
shari

The biggest differene that I can think of is that PT works on rehab of muscles usually on a short term basis like after an injury or surgery.
OT focuses on getting to a functional standard of living, makeing it possible to perform daily tasks of living, cooking, eating, doing your hair, brushing teeth...
I believe OT also is the main maker of splints either to gain function or to work on contractures, relieve pain, make appearance more "normal"...

Hope that all makes sense.
Amy 20 years old ROBPI from MN (OT student)

The way our therapists explained it to us is that generally speaking PT deals with gross motor skills and OT deals with fine motor skills. PT deals with whole body and getting proper form. Some of the things our PT did with Lucy more recently included stepping up and down from a low step, standing on tip toes, jumping with two feet, but she has also been doing sensory stimulation and weight-bearing.

OT deals with more sensory input into the affected arm (weight bearing; propreoception - is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body. Unlike the six exteroceptive senses (sight, taste, smell, touch, hearing, and balance) by which we perceive the outside world, proprioception is an interoceptive sense that provides feedback solely on the status of the body internally. It is the sense that indicates whether the body is moving with required effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other; other sensory stimulation - tapping, vibrations, textures, massage, plucking, etc; awareness & integration - two handed tasks and bilateral movement.

Hope that makes sense. Carol, mom to Lucy, 2, LOBPI

P.S. I also agree with the other stuff people posted about teaching the life skills and rehab differences. The explanation for OT that I gave is geared toward the infant as I have experienced it.