Using "rehabilitation" and "physical therapy" as synonyms?

Solution 1:

"Rehabilitation" is more general than "physical therapy". Also, rehabilitation is the goal, while physical therapy is the action taken to get that goal. Within a sentence, you can use just "therapy" after the first mention, or just "PT". In a longer passage, you'll have to consider whether it's still clear that "therapy" or "PT" refer to "physical therapy". If you put "PT" in parentheses, this makes it more clear to the reader that they should remember that "PT" means "physical therapy". For instance, "I have physical therapy (PT) tomorrow, and I'm scheduled to continue PT for several weeks".