“What is Pediatric Physical Therapy and How Can it Benefit My Child?
As a Pediatric Physical Therapist, I am often asked “What is Physical Therapy and how can it benefit my child?” Physical Therapy is a specialty in the healthcare field that treats impairments and disabilities through the promotion of movement, mobility and function.
At TEAM 4 KIDS physical therapy is specialized for children to assist with maturing gross motor movements. Gross motor movements can be categorized as a child’s “large-muscle” movements such as rolling, crawling, walking, running, jumping, stair climbing and biking, to name a few. For a multitude of reasons, children can present with delays in attaining age-appropriate gross motor skills and therefore attend therapy to address these delays.
One of the best techniques to encourage learning is therapeutic play. I use therapeutic play in almost all sessions to motivate children to learn and move. Through play, we work on improving areas such as strength, endurance, range of motion, balance, coordination and motor planning. Strengthening these areas specifically allows for improvements in functional domains including attaining age-appropriate gross motor milestones and assisting your child in becoming as safe and independent as possible.
Next time we’ll talk about typical gross motor development and how to tell if your child may be delayed. Until then, if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s physical abilities and/or gross motor skills please feel free to give us a call. – Amanda
