What is Occupational Therapy?

Many of us have probably never heard of the term Occupational Therapy before until we actually need it. Whether it was an unfortunate mishap that happened or we were simply blessed with children with special needs, it can never hurt to know and understand more about What is Occupational Therapy, What does an Occupational Therapist do, and How is Occupational Therapy different from other similar therapies?

To begin, we answer the question of, What is Occupational Therapy. Occupational Therapy is an allied health profession (“Allied Health Professionals are regarded as the third pillar of health care in Malaysia after doctors and nurses and represent almost a third of the country’s healthcare workforce. The Allied Health Workforce is represented by a diverse range of professions. Each profession has specific qualifications, expertise, training pathways, nature of job and service delivery requirements.”)1 which focuses on helping individuals, to attain as much independence as possible, in the areas of self-care, work / school, and leisure / play, after obtaining a form of disability from accident or illness. The disability may affect the patient physically, cognitively, behaviorally or socially.

According to the World Health Organisation, “the rehabilitation workforce is made up of different health workers, including but not limited to physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and audiologists, orthotists and prosthetists, clinical psychologists, physical medicine and rehabilitation doctors, and rehabilitation nurses. Many other health workers, such as general practitioners, surgeons, and community health workers may also play an important role in a person’s rehabilitation. Anybody may need rehabilitation at some point in their lives, following an injury, surgery, disease or illness, or because their functioning has declined with age.”2

Occupational Therapists can be found in hospitals and private centers, working with different kinds of medical conditions ranging from mental to physical conditions (i.e. Stroke, Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, Arthritis, Orthopaedic conditions, Burn, Head Injury, Depression, Cardiovascular, Cancer, Neurodevelopmental conditions, Anxiety/ Panic Attack, Schizophrenia, etc), extending from babies to the elderly. An Occupational Therapist will assess each of the areas respectively and see how the disability has impeded the individual to function in their environment. We look into the cognitive, physical, sensory, social and psychological aspects in an individual with disability. The aim of the Occupational Therapist is to enable the individual to obtain as much quality of life and independence as possible, whilst moving forward with the disability.

 The aim of the Occupational Therapist is to enable the individual to obtain as much quality of life and independence as possible, whilst moving forward with the disability.

People may get confused if Physiotherapy, Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy are the same profession. Some may think they need one or two over the others, and yes at times, that would be so – depending on the extent of injury or disability. In actual fact, we differ in our roles, but we may overlap in some areas of intervention. Generally Physiotherapy helps with pain management, improve range of motion of the joints and helping the individual with disability or injury, to regain as much muscle strength, reduce any risk of contractures/ spasms, stimulate correct muscle movements and train for correct posture in walking, standing and sitting. Whereas Speech and Language Therapy helps with the articulation and pronunciation of words, teaching the individual to string words together, assessing the motor skills of the jaw, tongue and lips. Some Speech and Language Therapist may also practice oral-motor therapy and/ or feeding therapy.

Overlapping of roles between the PT and OT may be seen in the usage of gross motor and fine motor activities –at times, people may see it as both professions doing similar activity. However, each profession is looking from their own respective perspectives and goals, on what to work on and aim for the individual journey to rehabilitation. There is not much overlapping with Speech and Language Therapist, as their work can be quite distinguished from Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy.

1 Profile of Allied Health Professions in Ministry of Health Malaysia (2020)

2 World Health Organisation