Rehabilitation is the method of bringing everything back to its original state. The word literally means “make fit again.” When it comes to workers’ comp injuries, the terms rehab and physical therapy are sometimes used interchangeably. But they do have different meanings. Differences between Rehab and Physical Therapy Rehabilitation, or rehab, is a broad term. In medicine, it can refer to any type of comprehensive treatment program. That might be:

• Substance abuse recovery

• Re-learning daily living and/or speech skills after a stroke

• Regaining physical strength after an accident at work or outside of work

• Learning new ways of moving or performing tasks

Medicine Plus is a web-based resource for patients and their families. The National Library of Medicine produces this information for the National Institutes of Health. Medicine Plus states that recovery applies to many forms of therapy. For instance, lung disease may lead to pulmonary rehab. Patients with a heart attack can need cardiac rehabilitation. Physical therapy is just one type of rehab that may be part of a patient’s recovery plan.