What is the difference between therapeutic exercise vs therapeutic activity?
Therapeutic exercise is billed as 97110 and Therapeutic activity is billed as 97530. Both are CPT codes that are commonly used in occupational and physical therapy billing.
These codes are very similar and are often confused. So, when and what do you document for each of these codes?

The therapeutic exercise code is not considered a dynamic code. It typically involves looking only at one parameter being measured such as active range of motion, prom, a/arom, endurance or strength. All of these are separate activities and therefore billed under therapeutic exercise.
Therapeutic activity typically is considered a dynamic activity and usually looks at multiple parameters, these could even be functional parameters. It is typically used when you are looking at range of motion and strength, or range of motion and endurance, etc.
For example, if you were having a patient use Puttycise tools this would be looking at range of motion as well as strength, therefore would be billed under Therapeutic Activity. Pushing a cart or cooking would be considered therapeutic activity as well. Therapeutic activities typically are real life movements or simulated activities of real life.
You can often think of Therapeutic Exercise as being the building block for Therapeutic Activity. For instance, if you are working with a patient with a tendon laceration initially you may be having the patient perform gentle short arc range of motion, once the patient has progressed and can safely perform towel walking with light resistance, now the movement is therapeutic activity, as a second parameter has been added to the first.


Questions, please shoot us a quick note on ‘therapeutic activity vs exercise‘ topic! Thanks for reading.
3 Comments
Leave a Comment
More To Read
EDS 101: Understanding Hypermobility in the Hand Therapy Setting
EDS in the Hand Therapy Setting General Overview:Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a group of heritable connective tissue disorders caused bygenetic changes that affect collagen production, the protein responsible for strength and elasticityin skin, ligaments and tendons (The Ehlers Danlos Society, 2016). There are thirteen forms of EDS that each have their own set of…
Read MoreArteriovenous Malformation (AVM hand)
By: Amalia Garcia Introduction After completing three weeks of my Level II hand therapy rotation, I have seen a wide variety of common upper extremity injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, distal radius fractures, mallet finger, flexor tendon lacerations, arthritis, and more. One condition that stood out to me was one that I hadn’t heard…
Read MoreDistal radius fracture types seen in the hand therapy clinic
Distal radius fractures are one of the most common injuries seen in hand therapy. Several different distal radius fracture classification systems have been developed, and this blog post will focus on the more common types of distal radius fractures and their classification. Extra-articular fractures are either nondisplaced or displaced fractures. These fractures occur outside…
Read MoreAssessing and Improving Grip with the Squegg
Assessing and Improving Grip with the Squegg By: Megan Prather “Grip training is made fun” In hand therapy we are always looking for engaging new interventions to use with patients. The Squegg is a dynamic grip-training tool that can be used with clients both to assess grip strength and to improve strength across sessions. This…
Read MoreSign-up to Get Updates Straight to Your Inbox!
Sign up with us and we will send you regular blog posts on everything hand therapy, notices every time we upload new videos and tutorials, along with handout, protocols, and other useful information.
Nice blog
Thank you!! There will be more to come!
Simple direct explanation!! I’m adding this to my student handbook for my fieldwork students