Occupational Therapy
A health profession and core rehabilitation discipline focused on enabling individuals to perform meaningful daily occupations and functional tasks through therapeutic interventions.
Full Definition
Occupational therapy (OT) in physical medicine and rehabilitation addresses deficits in self-care, productivity, and leisure through task-specific training, adaptive equipment prescription, environmental modification, and cognitive-perceptual retraining. Occupational therapists assess upper-extremity function, cognitive status, home environment barriers, and work capacity. In editorial contexts, 'occupational therapy' must not be shortened to 'occupation therapy' (a common error) and should be distinguished from physical therapy, which focuses more on gross motor function and mobility. The abbreviation OT may refer to either the profession or the individual practitioner (occupational therapist), and editors should clarify usage by context.
Usage
Usage note: Do not write 'occupation therapy'. The abbreviation OT may denote the practitioner or the profession; clarify when ambiguous.
In Context
- "Occupational therapy was initiated within 48 hours of admission to address upper-extremity function and activities of daily living retraining." — Inpatient rehabilitation admission note
- "The manuscript consistently misspelled the discipline as 'occupation therapy', requiring a global editorial correction." — Manuscript editing note