Pediatric physiotherapists deal with children, their families and to assist each child in achieving their optimal physical development and to help them to actively participate in home, school, and community environments.

Pediatric physiotherapist works with child, from the day unto 18 years old, suffering problems with posture or with movements of their body.

• Pathology different in adults and children particularly during growth spurts that herald the onset of adolescence
• Symptoms of musculoskeletal pain in the developing child are usually directly related to area of growth within the developing skeleton, the injuries and affectations of which largely make up the field of paediatric orthopaedics.
• If problems not picked up injury can lead serious consequences

• Diagnosing developmental delay
• Improving balance and mobility
• Strengthening muscles
• Helping your child reach milestones such as sitting, crawling, walking, jumping
• Intervening with mild but common issues such as incorrect gait, joint hypermobility, plagiocephaly and weakened muscle tone

• Beware of musculoskeletal pain in adolescents
• Pathology likely to be related to growth and associated skeletal vulnerability
• If not settling refer to a paediatric physio for advice or directly to orthopaedics if you feel x-rays are required

There are many causes of children having developmental delay, injury to the brain, orthopaedic or neurological problems. Depending on the individuals’ issues (found in the assessment) there can be problems with mobility, posture, standing, walking, going up stairs, balance and function. The physiotherapist will work on training the large muscles in the body and increasing their strength particularly in the legs, arms and stomach. They will aim to increase the body control and help develop better:

• Coordination
• Better ability to do activities of daily living
• Strength
• Balance
• Flexibility in joints and muscles
• Independence

The physiotherapist will discuss goals with the child and parents. A treatment programme will then be devised aimed at achieving these goals. Treatments can include the following:

• Working on the soft tissues and muscles with massage
• Working on the joints
• Doing stretches and specialist exercises with the child
• Teaching the parents and child stretches and exercises to do in between sessions
• Advice on posture
• Advice on equipment including walking aids if required
• General advice
• Exercise equipment such as weights, gym balls, exercise bands, mats, wobble cushions and other child specific fun equipment are often used to help in the rehab.

• Members of the Association of Paediatric Physiotherapists
• Use Evidence Base Practice and adhere to continuing professional development to ensure able to offer the most current evidence based treatment for children
• Work closely with NHS physiotherapists and rest of your childs rehabilitation team
• Support the childs family and carers to ensure the best outcome from daily therapy programmes
• Extensive experience working with children with all classifications of cerebral palsy (hemiplegia, diplegia and quadriplegia).
• Extensive experience working with children with different movement problems such as athetosis, chorea, spasticity and dystonia.
• Provide easy to follow printed exercise programmes for parents, carers and children to follow