How Rehabilitation Empowers Independence
July 18, 2025 | Health & Wellness, Kline Galland Home, Kline Galland Staff
Independence isn’t just a value we celebrate on the Fourth of July; it’s also something many of us fight to regain after injury, surgery, or illness. For seniors, that journey often includes rehabilitation: It’s estimated that 5.6 million older Americans received rehabilitation in 2022, and that number is expected to grow as more people age. Whether at home or on-site, Kline Galland’s expert rehabilitation services – including occupational therapy and physical therapy – can help individuals reach their goals and reclaim their independence. As we honor Disability Pride Month this July, we celebrate the ways in which therapy supports ability, dignity, and quality of life.
Understanding OT and PT
While they often work closely together, occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) focus on different, complementary aspects of rehabilitation. Both start with an evaluation and create a personalized plan for recovery. Both continue to reevaluate progress and adjust as needed. Still, OT and PT address different needs.
Occupational therapy helps people regain or adapt the skills needed for everyday activities and focuses on improving how a person functions in their environment. An occupational therapist can recommend changes to support everyday activities like grooming and mobility, and train caregivers and families. They can help their client create plans to make the most out of daily routines. Examples of what OT looks like are:
- Helping a person regain confidence after a stroke by relearning how to safely bathe and dress using adaptive tools, and
- Teaching a person recovering from hip surgery how to use a kitchen walker so they can safely prepare meals again.
Physical therapy focuses on building strength, improving balance, reducing pain without drugs, and restoring mobility. PT often addresses how the body moves as well as how to prevent future injuries. Two ways that PT might help are:
- Working with someone who had a recent fracture build lower-body strength to prevent future falls while regaining freedom of movement, or
- Sharing targeted exercise and providing manual therapy so an individual with arthritis feels less pain and stiffness and has more active days and restful nights.
Together, OT and PT form a holistic approach that promotes both recovery and long-term independence.
Rehabilitation at Kline Galland
Kline Galland’s skilled therapists, nurses, doctors, and social workers work together to ensure that each person receives exceptional care, every day, in every way. With the largest rehabilitation program in the state of Washington, we offer both inpatient and outpatient services. And we include state-of-the-art therapies such as:
- Continuous passive range of motion
- Electric parallel bars and hi-lo mats/tables
- Electrical stimulation
- Ultrasound equipment
- Standing frame equipment
Our care ensures the best outcomes possible, and we invest in each person’s results.
Charlotte Hill came to Kline Galland after a hospital stay, needing significant rehab support. What she found was more than recovery — it was dignity, comfort, and a return to life on her terms. She chose Kline Galland despite the distance from her home because she wanted to go “somewhere that would take care of me.”
At Kline Galland I got therapy six days a week. They also had a daily group exercise class and…had someone that came to my room to do exercises. They made sure to get a wheelchair for me that I was comfortable in.
My OT, Stephanie, was very good. The therapists had lesson plans and kept notes, so they stayed organized.
You took me, and I am grateful. I have been home three weeks now and am doing really well.
Charlotte’s story is just one of many that reflect how rehabilitation empowers ability, identity, and independence. If you or a loved one could benefit from rehabilitation care, we invite you to learn more about our services at Kline Galland. Then, contact us. Rehabilitation can be a compassionate, comprehensive experience. Or, as Charlotte puts it, “Compared to other places I have been, Kline Galland is like Disneyland!”
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Sources: International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health; AOTA; WebMD
