What is the goal of occupational therapy ?
That’s probably a good question, but might not really have a really precise answer. I am sure it probably started with a need for patients to perform more job specific tasks beyond what they were getting in PT. I can only assume that this related to a lot of fine motor and hand related tasks. Yet, like any other profession, as more and more demand for more areas needing to be addressed, the field probably grew out of necessity. Just like medical specialities grew, so did rehab specialities. This is why there are now even specialties within in each discipline…certified hand therapist for OTs, neuro or orthopedic clinical specialists for PTs. The field becomes too broad for just one discipline. Addendum: Zttca should know that physical therapy and it’s beginning practices long preceeded the presence of OTs. Although both flourished heavily after world war I, the practices of physical therapy dates back to the time of hippocrates, with more official organizations that sprang up prior to
