What is it and why is it needed?

The goal of Pediatric Physical Therapy is to develop gross motor skills and abilities to ensure patients have the strength, muscle support, range of motion, and endurance needed to complete daily tasks. Injuries, developmental delays, genetic disorders and a variety of other factors can negatively effect a child’s ability to perform common tasks and/or excel in their areas of interest.

Addressing gross motor delays early is essential.

The knowledges, skills and abilities a Pediatric Physical Therapist is equipped with will ensure the areas of concern are addressed in a timely manner so that any motor delays or deficits that exist can be minimized or vanquished completely. Our Pediatric Physical Therapists are trained to ensure that your child has the coordination, balance, posture, endurance, and strength needed to excel as they grow.

Here are the common areas of need that our Pediatric Physical Therapists address…

• Brain trauma and injuries

• Cerebral palsy — a disorder affecting a child’s muscle tone, movement or posture

• Cystic Fibrosis

• Developmental delays

• Gait Deficits– problems walking

• General orthopedic — injuries to the bones, joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles

• Genetic syndromes — Down syndrome (which can cause developmental and intellectual delays) and muscular dystrophy (which can impact muscle mass and strength)

• Gross motor skills — deficits including muscle strength, coordination and balance

• Headaches

• Hypertonia or hypotonia — abnormally high or weak muscle tone, respectively

• Muscle weakness– bilaterally or unilaterally

• Post-concussion symptoms — headaches, dizziness and ringing in the ears

• Post-fracture care

• Spina bifida — a birth defect affecting the spinal cord

• Sports-related pain or poor posture

• Sprains and strains

• Torticollis — a condition causing the head to twist to one side

Our Pediatric Speech Therapists utilize one of the most effective forms of treatment for children, play therapy.

Essentially, the therapist incorporates play into each purposeful activity or intervention used during the session. Children often don’t even realize that they have been working on their feeding skills, speech sound production, listening, reading or writing skills, and more during the sessions.

That is the power of integrating something children naturally enjoy doing to help them achieve and exceed developmental milestones.