Pediatric physical therapy is the rehabilitation process that helps children improve their normal function. Physical therapists specializing in pediatrics help children under 18, from newborns to teenagers. They help to treat for various reasons, including sports injuries, musculoskeletal conditions, brain, genetic, or spine disorders.
The practitioners utilize the treatments to improve strength, flexibility, range of motion, and movement patterns, making everyday activities easier. This article describes the importance of pediatric physical therapy and why children need such rehabilitation.
1) Recover From Injuries
Participating in sports is a great way to learn valuable life skills and get involved in regular physical activities. But the unfortunate thing is that kids can get themselves injured while playing.
Reports say that 3.5 million children in the U.S experience sports injuries every year, with the most common ones as strains and sprains, concussions, and broken bones. Children who play basketball, football, ice hockey, baseball, and volleyball are more prone to suffering injuries.
Even though kids recover quickly than adults, they should be treated and monitored for any muscle imbalance or lack of mobility. Pediatric physical therapy is an excellent way to treat sports injuries helping them in proper healing and getting them back in the game.
Physical therapists utilize the appropriate treatments to help in the rehabilitation of injuries in children. They carry out the RICE (rest, ice, compression, or elevation) treatment to get rid of pain and inflammation. This also helps to restore range of motion and flexibility, and build up muscle strength to prevent further injuries. This type of rehabilitation helps the children return to their field or sports more safely.
2) Help with Developmental Delays
Developmental delay can affect the child’s learning skills such as crawling, walking, and speech. It includes a lack of development in the child’s motor, speech, language, and social skills.
It can result from genetic and heredity disorders which are exposed to infections before or after birth. However, it causes metabolic disorders, trauma to the brain, or premature birth. Developmental delay in each child shows differently and will be challenging to diagnose as many other conditions have similar symptoms.
The most common symptoms of developmental delay include rolling over, sitting up, crawling, or walking much later than expected, difficulty communicating or socializing with others, trouble taking or talking late, learning more slowly than other children of the same age, and inability to do everyday tasks. Fortunately, pediatric physical therapy can improve developmental milestones and promote physical progress as quickly as possible.
The treatments may include specifically designed exercises, stretches, hydrotherapy, and other activities to relax stiff muscles and joints, increase muscle strength and mobility, and improve balance and coordination. They also help boost normal movement patterns, encourage independence with everyday tasks, and enhance the quality of life.
3) Treat Congenital Disorders
Congenital disorders include those conditions that exist at birth and very often before birth or develop within the first month of birth.
A large number of congenital disorders are diagnosed in children ranging from addition or loss of an entire chromosome in each cell to loss of part of a chromosome to microdeletion of several contiguous genes within a chromosome leading to mild or severe developmental disabilities.
The most common one is a down syndrome that affects about 6000 babies born in the U.S each year. Down syndrome is a chromosomal condition that causes babies to be born with an extra copy of chromosome 21. It causes intellectual and physical challenges by changing the typical development of the brain and the body in the affected children.
The common symptoms include a small head, flattened face, protruding tongue, short height, and poor muscle tone. Pediatric physical therapy helps children with down syndrome by designing an individualized treatment program that includes specific exercises to improve strength, developmental skills, balance, coordination, and postural control.
4) Help with Certain Conditions
Pediatric physical therapy helps with certain conditions like muscle atrophy, spina bifida, juvenile arthritis, and cerebral palsy in children.
Muscle atrophy causes muscle weakness and loss of function over time. The symptoms include muscle wasting, low muscle tone, poor balance, and spinal deformity. Physical therapists help strengthen muscles and maintain aerobic fitness manage scoliosis and bone problems improve overall movement and function, and slow the progression of muscle shortening.
Cerebral palsy is a condition that affects the development of motor skills due to an injury to the developing brain. The symptoms include difficulty reaching with the arms, trouble rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, slower movement, lack of coordination, or inability to hold the head up. Physical therapists help with the child’s movement development and provide hands-on training for positioning and movement.
Final Thoughts
Pediatric physical therapy is an effective way of helping children with various disorders and conditions achieve normal function similar to the other kids of their age. Physical therapists are experienced professionals who work with children, to improve their body function and movements and enhance the quality of their lives.