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Physiotherapy vs. Occupational Therapy with Lee Wei Qing | Otter.ai

Physiotherapy vs. Occupational Therapy with Lee Wei Qing

Sarah Anati9min

Yi Huey

00:04

Good morning all. Today we are going to do a video series on the general awareness and general knowledge on what is physiotherapy and what is occupational therapy. So today we have Mr. Lee with us, Mr Lee Wei Qing. He is a certified occupational therapist and has more than 10 years of experience in pediatric groups and therapies. So we're going to ask some questions today regarding physio and occupational therapy. So, good morning Mr. Lee. Yes. So, can you tell us exactly how different is physiotherapy and occupational therapy and the service that they can provide?

Lee Wei Qing

00:39

Right. Basically physiotherapy and occupational therapy, they are rehabilitation services, which help clients or patients to regain independence and functions, after injury or after a certain type of disease or illnesses. So, there are some similarities between these two therapy services, there are also key differences between these two. So I'll start with physiotherapy. So physiotherapy, mainly the therapist focus on physical condition, such as if you backache, if you have neck pain, if you have joint issues, muscle issues. You have something wrong with your spine, spinal cord, your nerves or you have a stroke. So the therapist will focus on rebuilding your muscle strength, reducing pain, your range of motion with a lot of exercises, stretching and all kinds of therapeutic guarantees. The is the main aim of physiotherapist, while for occupational therapists, we also focus on the, of course regaining the function of the clients after an injury or- or any diseases, but our major focus will be on function of the person. So it improves the activities of daily living and work. So, work here doesn't mean working in the office but work as a person - let's say I'm a three year old child then my occupation will be socialising with my friends, living better enough at home to take care of myself at a certain level. If I'm a 30 year old adult then my occupation would be other than going to have a job in office, or you know to run my daily lives independently. So that is how occupational therapists function. So the other part will be play, which is leisure. So, activities of daily living which we call ADL is work, occupation, and also play are three major components in occupational therapy. So we view the patient in a very holistic view, a very complete view. So this complements whatever the physiotherapist do. For example, like if you get a stroke- if a person gets a stroke. After regaining all your range of motion and muscle strength the- via physiotherapy, then the occupational therapists will work on their functional ability. For example your fine motor skills, if you are the- an office worker, you want to go back to your job, then the occupational therapist will help training to the- using the computer -

Yi Huey

03:10

How to write -

Lee Wei Qing

03:11

Yeah and any adaptation that is needed to suit yourself to your occupation. So, yeah that is the- on the surface that is the key differences.

Yi Huey

03:24

So it's basically to teach them things like for example how to use a spoon -

Lee Wei Qing

03:27

Yeah.

Yi Huey

03:28

Or how to pull a chair or something like that?

Lee Wei Qing

03:30

Yeah, correct correct.

Yi Huey

03:30

So, maybe can you just briefly explain to us because like you say we have children 5 years old, 30 years old and elderly. So how does this occupational therapy will actually have different benefit to all these targets?

Lee Wei Qing

03:46

Okay. Okay for occupational therapy for children. Let's say- We call it pediatric occupational therapy. Our main target would be children with delays or any child psychiatric conditions or you know any forms of delay that they have - either congenital or you know they obtain after certain injuries. So our main aim would be, say, a five year old kid who still cannot focus on the things that he's doing or cannot speak, then we will work closely with speech therapists to train their- first thing their behavioural control, their attention span, their sensory processing and how they react to the environment and of course their communication. In therapy we work together with speech therapists. So, when it's younger adult, then you have different priorities in their treatment plan, their therapy plan. So it all depends on it's very customised based on the clients condition, so the therapist with his or her own preemptive reasoning has to assess then design the therapeutic plan for the clients. So I think that's how to benefit - the clients benefit from whatever therapy that the therapist is doing.

Yi Huey

03:47

You think you can just give us a specific example, you know how OT or occupational therapist will actually help in a specific medical condition? So for example if the person had a recent stroke before or one sided weakness, so how would exactly OT would benefit this person?

Lee Wei Qing

05:26

Alright, so in case of a stroke so our therapists, occupational therapists work very closely with physiotherapists. You know after the physio or during- in the process of recovering their muscle strength, their range of motion, or their ability to participate in physical activities, OT's will come in. For example, if a patient has contractions, so the OT's will prescribe slings to their clients to help them maintain their range of motion. And also, when it comes to functional tasks. For example, the client has regained the gross motor ability, so the OT's, the occupational therapists will work on the fine motor skills, such as using their fingers, their wrists. And also, all the daily functional tasks -

Yi Huey

06:12

Like eating?

Lee Wei Qing

06:12

Eating. So eating will be a very fine motor skills. That will be towards the later part of the the rehabiliting. So, this is like the whole process of recovering from their gross motor skills and also going into the fine motor skills and if cognitive part is affected, you know after stoke sometimes, some part of the brain will affect - their executional functions and executive functions. So, the occupational therapist will also do on the cognitive rehab part. Other than the physical part.

Yi Huey

06:14

Okay. So, just now you talk about you know to the ends of their rehabilitation period. So maybe you can tell us, typically if a person suffer from stroke right, so how long does it take like let's say with OT's help until from the moment you start OT on this patient all the way until he recover? What is the typical range?

Lee Wei Qing

07:04

So this mainly relies on how soon we start the co-rehabilitation process, after the injury. So of course, as we all know like, if you start within say the same week after your injury, the prospect of your rehabilitation outcome will be very, very good. And also, depending on how intensive we are doing the therapy. So we would suggest usually to acute cases which is quite new cases, we will suggest like probably four to five sessions per week and they expect to see results, at least a bit of result within the same month. And then towards the second or third month, we are expecting to see better and better results come- coming out from their whole rehabilitation process. And also one key importance is the compliance of the client, and also their family members. How much support does he get at home. So, we do our therapy, the therapists do the therapies, but the family members and the patient himself or herself has to cooperate very closely with us to make sure that they outcome is as what we had planned.

Yi Huey

08:11

Okay. So basically other than you go in and give the intervention, the family members or the carer or the caregiver have to continue with the - with the recommended activities?

Lee Wei Qing

08:21

Yes, that will speed up the whole recovery process.

Yi Huey

08:24

So basically the family support, the homecare support is very important.

Lee Wei Qing

08:27

Yes, yes. Correct.

Yi Huey

08:29

That's very good. So, I think after the introduction or the speech by Mr. Lee, we have a better understanding of what is physiotherapy and what is occupational therapy. Thank you Wei Qing for the clear explanation about what are the differences and the benefits of OT can provide. So for the viewer out there. These are all the general information that we're providing, if you have further questions or further enquiry, please go to your nearest therapy centre or your trusted therapist to get the answer. Thank you.

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