In short, it is physiotherapy for children 0-17 years of age!
How is it different from adult physiotherapy?
With children, especially those under the age of 10 will require something we call play therapy. It essentially means that we try to incorporate physiotherapy exercises into games and tailor treatment plans that fit goals into day-to-day activities. Moreover, we offer ways to facilitate motor milestones for the babies! This includes ways to promote rolling and how to capitalize on activities performed in tummy time (everyone’s favorite!)
What sort of conditions are treated in pediatric physiotherapy?
Really anything! Let’s talk about common conditions treated in the infant population (0-4 years of age):
1. Gross Motor Delays or Developmental Delays
a. Common gross motor skills look like the following:
i. Rolling tummy to back around and vice versa around 4-6 months of age
ii. Pivoting around 3-6 months of age
iii. Sitting without support around 7-9 months
iv. Crawling between 7-10 months of age
v. Walking 12-18 months of age
b. If you feel your baby is not reaching their age normative milestones, physiotherapy can help facilitate and provide ways for parents to promote achieving these goals.
2. Head-shape and Torticollis Concerns
a. Torticollis: shortening of the sternocleidomastoid muscle that can happen due to birthing trauma or congenitally due to position in-utero.
b. Head-shape: may be related to torticollis or may be simply due to positional preferences.
i. Different head-shapes include: Brachycephaly (flat head), Scaphocephaly (boat-shaped head), Plagiocephaly (one side being flatter than the other).
ii. Head-shape is best addressed prior to 6 months of age due to the rapid growth of skull bones.
c. Physiotherapy can help provide stretches to improve torticollis and offer repositioning strategies to conservatively manage head shape concerns.
3. Gait concerns (i.e., pigeon-toe, out-toeing and/or toe walking)
a. Physiotherapy can provide exercises which strengthen muscle groups that may be related to aberrant gait patterns.
We also see a variety of patients with neurodevelopmental syndromes or diseases such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida and various other motor disorders.
In youth athletes, physiotherapy can treat any musculoskeletal injury while focusing on return to sport and activity goals.
Does Rise Physiotherapy and Performance offer pediatric services?
Yes! If you are concerned about your child and their gross motor milestones, or if you have a young athlete among you who is suffering from growing pains or sport injuries – book them in for an initial assessment with our physiotherapist Harmehek Sidhoo!
