Fracturing your wrist can be a painful and debilitating injury that requires weeks of rehabilitation in order to return to normal daily activity. Your doctor will prescribe a physical therapy or an occupational therapy treatment plan to help you recover from your injury. There are minute differences between these two rehabilitation options, focusing mainly on what the end goal of therapy will be in relation to your wrist function.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy for a wrist fracture will focus on helping you regain muscle strength and full range of motion in your joint following injury. If you wrist fracture required a casting period, your wrist and forearm muscles are likely to have atrophied and became weaker. Thus, physical therapy will help build up these muscles so that you can return to normal daily activity with your wrist, such as turning a door knob, writing with a pen or pencil, or even working a keyboard.
Occupational Therapy
Like physical therapy, an occupational therapist will assist you with strengthening your wrist and helping you gain range of motion in your joint. However, the main difference in occupational therapy is that exercises and treatment will be geared towards helping you return to your place of employment or occupation. For example, if your career requires highly coordinated hand movements, your therapist will likely structure exercises to simulate these movements during treatment. Occupational therapy can also be geared towards helping you return to a specific athletic activity or sport.
Considerations
Wrist fractures can differ in severity and therefore also differ in terms of treatment plans and therapy requirements. Some fractures of the wrist will require a metal brace or pins to be surgically implanted in your bone to assist with the healing process. As such, your therapy may be altered to account for this added healing tool in terms of exercise types and manual mobilizations.
Holistic Therapy
Another major difference between physical therapy and occupational therapy is that the former focuses mainly on helping you regain your muscle and joint strength, while the latter also incorporates helping you cope with your injury and how it may affect your career and life. Occupational therapy also focuses on addressing psychological, social, and emotional affects of an injury.
