Physical therapy is evaluation and treatment to help you prevent injury or to help you recover from disability caused by an injury, a disease  or a health condition. It can also slow or prevent a disability from getting worse. A physical therapist provides treatment by physical or mechanical means, such as through exercise, heat or mild electrical current, and will also provide education, instruction and support for recovery.

The goals of physical therapy are to relieve pain, improve mobility (such as walking, going up stairs, or getting in and out of bed), and restore physical function and overall fitness. Depending on your injury, disease, or condition, you may need to work on flexibility, strength, endurance, coordination or balance.

Occupational therapists (OTs) help people improve their ability to perform tasks in their daily living and working environments. They work with individuals who have conditions that are mentally, physically, developmentally or emotionally disabling. They also help them to develop, recover or maintain daily living and work skills. Occupational therapists help clients not only to improve their basic motor functions and reasoning abilities, but also to compensate for permanent loss of function. Their goal is to help clients have independent, productive and satisfying lives.

Occupational therapists assist clients in performing activities of all types, ranging from using a computer to caring for daily needs such as dressing, cooking and eating. Physical exercises may be used to increase strength and dexterity, while other activities may be chosen to improve visual acuity and the ability to discern patterns. For example, a client with short-term memory loss might be encouraged to make lists to aid recall, and a person with coordination problems might be assigned exercises to improve hand-eye coordination. Occupational therapists also use computer programs to help clients improve decision making, abstract-reasoning, problem-solving and perceptual skills, as well as memory, sequencing and coordination—all of which are important for independent living.

Therapists instruct those with permanent disabilities in the use of adaptive equipment including wheelchairs, orthotics and aids for eating and dressing. They also design or make special equipment needed at home or at work. Therapists develop computer-aided adaptive equipment and teach clients with severe limitations how to use that equipment in order to communicate better and control various aspects of their environment.

Speech therapy is the corrective or rehabilitative treatment of physical and/or cognitive deficits/disorders resulting in difficulty with verbal communication. This includes both speech (articulation, intonation, rate and intensity) and language (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, both receptive and expressive language including reading and writing). Depending on the nature and severity of the disorder, common treatments may range from physical strengthening exercises and instructive or repetitive practice and drilling to the use of audio-visual aids.

Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs), or Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are allied health professionals. They work with children and adults who have difficulties with communication, or with eating, drinking and swallowing.

Speech and language therapists work with adults with eating and swallowing and/or communication problems following stroke, neurological impairments and degenerative conditions including:  head injury, Parkinson’s disease, motor-neuron disease and dementia, cancer of the head, neck and throat (including laryngectomy), voice problems, mental health issues, learning difficulties, physical disabilities, stammering (dysfluency) and hearing impairments.