Physio, occupational therapy, or perhaps both may be necessary for patients healing from an illness or accident. And understanding if one requires occupational therapy or physical therapy and how both sessions would be able to assist them could be challenging. So, occupational therapy practitioners concentrate on fine motor abilities or the actions of the finer muscles in the body. And a physiotherapist focuses mainly on gross muscle control and motor skills, which are bodily motions made with the help of the major muscles. So, a physio in Concord aids in enhancing patient mobility, while an occupational therapist aids in enhancing involvement in daily functioning and responsibilities.
Concord is a beautiful city in Australia with over 15,000 residents, of which over 700 are children under nine years, and over 1500 are adults above 60 years who mainly seek physiotherapy. As such, deciding whom to visit might be confusing without a clear understanding of the two. The difference is as simple as the statement that goes, a physiotherapist can help patients get to the dunny, but they need the help of an occupational therapist to accomplish their goal.
What Do Physiotherapists Focus On?
Physiotherapists concentrate on enhancing gross motor skills, or skills that require body motion, employing the large body muscles to execute everyday tasks. Such regular activities include standing, strolling, jogging, and sitting erect. It also incorporates ball control and kinaesthetic awareness. Meanwhile, kids struggle to move about, play a sport, or play with their pals at the park if they lack gross motor abilities. And children who struggle to move because of an accident, illness or impairment can be treated by physiotherapists. They frequently create customised treatment plans depending on the unique problems of patients.
What Are Their Goals?
The goal of the therapy will be to help the patient move easily and stop their disease from getting more severe in the future. In paediatric therapy, physiotherapists frequently focus on how kids can manoeuvre their bodies to perform everyday activities, navigate securely through their surroundings, and get to where they are going. These motions, which use their powerful muscles, are sometimes known as gross motor functions. So, the goal of physiotherapy is to help children acquire as much mobility and independence while educating parents about all facets of the physical growth of children. Some treatments which affect mobility, stance, equilibrium, and security may fall under this category, although it is not restricted to it. Physiotherapists frequently specialise in orthopaedic and mobility issues and have an extensive understanding of the human cardiovascular, skeletal, and neurological systems.
What Do Occupational Therapists Focus On?
Occupational therapy practitioners, however, concentrate on enhancing fine motor abilities, including manipulating the hand’s tiny muscles. So, for a youngster to complete everyday self-care and scholastic duties, dexterity skills are essential. Cleaning the teeth, changing clothes, unpacking their lunch, and dining are examples of self-care activities. Reading, sketching, writing, and utilising scissors are all examples of academic work. As such, the issues that necessitate occupational therapy result from wounds and physiological or behavioural difficulties. Functional exercises will be a part of the treatment to improve dexterity, cognition and vision. The objective is to support your child’s development while they engage in typical activities for children, like learning, exploring, and playing.
What Skills Do Both Therapists Possess?
A physio in Concord usually focuses on developing functional mobility, gait, strength, endurance, coordination and balance, orthotics and equipment training, motor planning and control, body awareness, pain relief, flexibility and wound care. In contrast, occupational therapists help patients achieve self-care tasks, gross and fine motor skills, executive functioning, cognitive abilities like sensory processing and attention, praxis, visual motor integration and spatial awareness, and hand-eye coordination.