Breaking them down
Physical therapy
Physical therapists are more focused on evaluating and diagnosing movement dysfunction as well as treating the person for the disease itself. While occupational therapists will also have a corresponding assessment, physical therapists will be more likely to diagnose and treat the physical source of the problem, such as injured body tissues and structures.
? Physical therapists can specialize in many different areas including sports medicine, children's health (pediatrics) and women's health, and there are three different practices within these areas. These are:
? Musculoskeletal Physical Therapy, also known as Orthopedic Physical Therapy, is used to treat conditions such as sprains, back pain, arthritis, strains, incontinence, bursitis, postural problems, sports and workplace injuries, and mobility impairments. Post-surgical rehabilitation is also included in this category.
? Neurological Physical Therapy - Used to treat neurological conditions including stroke, spinal cord injury, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. It can also be used for rehabilitation after brain surgery.
Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy refers to the name of the treatment used for asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and other cardiac breathing disorders.
Types of treatment: Each person's treatment is tailored to their specific requirements and the physiotherapist will choose from a wide range of treatments including: Manual treatments - these can include, joint manipulation and spinal training, manual resistance training and stretching. Exercise programs - such as muscle strengthening, postural retraining, cardiovascular stretching and training. Electrotherapeutic techniques - these include transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), laser therapy, diathermy and ultrasound.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy tends to focus more on assessing and improving a person's ability to live their life than physical therapy. Instead of directly treating an injury using techniques such as manual therapy or acupuncture by a physical therapist, occupational therapists more commonly help a person optimize his or her independence and ability to complete daily activities in spite of an injury or physical impairment.
Occupational therapists often treat injuries directly as well, but more commonly occupational therapy focuses more on improving life skills and uses adaptive tools as the therapist customizes the treatment plan. For example, in some parts of the world, occupational therapists utilize practices such as the use of ultrasound in injury rehabilitation, much like physical therapists do.
? Helping people improve their ability to perform everyday tasks is a major goal of occupational therapists. OTs are more likely to conduct on-site evaluations of home environments and work environments and make recommendations for appropriate adjustments to each program to improve quality of life. Occupational therapists are trained to modify the physical environment as well as train the person to use assistive devices to increase independence. While physical therapists perform on-site evaluations, this tends to be less common.
Physical therapists and occupational therapists are trained in anatomy and musculoskeletal systematics, so they are very knowledgeable about musculoskeletal injuries and rehabilitation compared to general practitioner physicians.
While there are many differences between the two medical specialties, there is also a lot of crossover between OTs and PTs. For example, occupational therapists are often involved in educating people about how to prevent and avoid injuries, as well as educating people about the healing process, much like physical therapists. Physical therapists, in turn, are often involved in helping people improve their ability to do everyday activities through education and training. While there is this crossover between the professions, they both play their own very important roles and each has things that they specialize in. In many cases, professionals in both categories are involved in injury recovery.
Consider a patient who needs to recover from knee replacement surgery. His PT might assign a variety of exercises to improve mobility in his new artificial knee and to soothe post-surgical pain and stiffness. His OT might teach him how to use a wheelchair in the early stages of recovery and then help him practice going up and down stairs with his replacement knee. Or, in a nursing home, a physical therapist may help a patient get up from a wheelchair and maintain standing balance while an occupational therapist assists her in how to brush her teeth and wash her face. Often, PTs and OTs work closely together to help a patient achieve a full recovery.
Massage is performed by practitioners utilizing techniques and involves moving the muscles and soft tissues of the body. Massage therapy techniques can include, but are not limited to, friction, kneading, gliding, percussion, vibration, compression, and passive or active stretching within the normal anatomical range of motion. "The most common forms of massage applied by massage therapists are Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, and trigger point massage.
So physical therapy and occupational therapy are clinical therapies that involve complex clinical diagnosis and evaluation! Whereas massage is just a form of muscle relaxation, completely different!