The use of activity versus exercise has been a divisive topic that has separated occupational therapists into opposing factions regarding our legitimate tools. One approach to the resolution of this conflict is to use exercise as preparation and purposeful activity as application in a treatment plan. Preparation and application are not philosophically opposed concepts—They are the two ends of a continuum. The purpose of this paper is to explore how specific continua from the biomechanical and sensorimotor frames of reference can be used to generate specific guidelines about when to use activity and when to use exercise.

Keywords:
guidelines
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Copyright © 1989 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.
1989
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