Quick answer
Occupational therapy restores the practical activities of daily life — dressing, eating, writing, cooking and working. Where physiotherapy focuses on movement itself, occupational therapy focuses on the tasks that movement is for, including hand function, home adaptation and return to work.
Physiotherapy asks whether the hand can move. Occupational therapy asks whether it can button a shirt, hold a pen and carry a plate — and if not, what to do about that.
What we work on
- Hand function and fine motor skills after injury, surgery or stroke
- Daily living activities: dressing, bathing, eating, personal care
- Handwriting and school-based skills in children
- Home and workplace adaptation, and the equipment that makes tasks possible
- Sensory and attention difficulties affecting daily function
- Graded return to work after injury or illness
How it works
Assessment starts with what you actually need to do and cannot currently manage. Treatment then either rebuilds the underlying skill, or changes the method or the environment so the task becomes possible now — usually both.
Practical adaptation matters more than people expect. A different grip, a raised chair or a repositioned shelf can restore independence long before strength fully returns.
Medically reviewed by Nasir Mughees, BPT, MPT, Orthopaedic Physiotherapy · Last reviewed September 2026