Physical Therapy for Kids

When your children need physical therapy treatments, pediatric physical therapists are the ones to go to. They help these children get back to doing the things they normally do. Some of these child patients need pediatric physical therapists due to complications resulting from neuro-motor disorders or cerebral palsy.

Pediatric physical therapists provide rehabilitation to alleviate the children’s suffering from their debilitating condition. In addition, they educate parents about their children’s dysfunctions. They advise them on the available treatments as well as other alternative treatments. With a little dash of TLC and some motivation, these little patients will be on their way to recovery.

Pediatric physical therapy caters to different specialty areas. Among these areas are the following:
Pediatric Orthopedic Physical Therapists: They handle preliminary diagnosis as well as organize a treatment plan for certain injuries and disorders. Along with their assistants, pediatric orthopedic physical therapists provide rehabilitation assistance for their patients after orthopedic surgery. Using magnetic and massage therapy, they also facilitate recovery through joint mobilization and strength training.

Pediatric Geriatric: This area of physical therapy deals with disorders such as juvenile arthritis and osteoporosis. It addresses the pain relating to these debilitating conditions and provides steps to prevent it from worsening. Pediatric geriatric physical therapy aims to restore mobility and reduce the pain suffered by these little tykes.

Pediatric Neurologist: This area in pediatric physical therapy particularly deals with children who are suffering from a neurological disorder, such as brain injury, cerebral palsy and spinal cord-related disorders, among others. It aims to restore the child patient’s functional independence.

Relieve Back Pain through Physical Therapy

As we age, we experience body aches that we once never had. Take back pain, for instance. When we were younger, most of us used to engage in various activities. We’d play football, baseball, basketball and volleyball. The usual body aches that most of us had back then were just bruises and some minor muscle aches. Give it a day or two and those body aches are gone just like that without even popping a pill. But now, even a minor household chore could “break” our back.

Back pain is the most common body ache among adults today. Well, considering the lack of physical activity, our bodies have become used to a sedentary lifestyle so that even a minor change of physical routine could have a significant impact on our backs. If you need relief from back pain without surgery or pain medication, physical therapy is the way to go.

In most cases, physical therapy is the first method used to relieve back, shoulder and neck pain. The therapist may choose between passive or active treatment when dealing with the patient.

In passive treatment, the patient does not actively participate since this typically involves (1) heat or cold packs placed on the patient’s injured area, (2) ultrasound and (3) iontophoresis, among others. In active therapy treatment, the patient performs various activities like stretching, strengthening and other exercises. Depending on the severity of the pain or injury, the therapist may use both active and passive treatments for better results.

Pool Play Can Also Be Therapeutic

Aquatic, or pool, therapy is an exercise program that makes use of the water to alleviate or treat certain medical conditions. Water is a good base for performing exercise. It allows freedom of movement while at the same time providing resistance necessary for building muscle strength and flexibility.

Water in liquid form – such as that used in pools – is viscous. Being viscous, it provides buoyancy and resistance or friction, thus aquatic therapy provides the conditions suitable for improving a patient’s strength. For example, walking half-submerged in water provides more resistance compared to performing similar routines on land. This resistance is used during aquatic therapy to develop a patient’s muscles.

While providing resistance, water’s viscous property likewise provides buoyancy through hydrostatic pressure. Hydrostatic pressure enables water to support the weight of the patient. Buoyancy decreases the amount of stress on the joints, making it easier and less painful for the patient to perform exercises.
Aquatic therapy is especially useful for patients who are strengthening muscular endurance, suffering from arthritis, in the process of healing fractured bones, overweight, improving balance, coordination and cardiovascular conditioning or simply trying to maintain fitness.

While aquatic therapy can be applied to a range of conditions, it is not for everyone. People with cardiac disease are not recommended to participate in aquatic therapy.

Aquatic therapy is not advisable those who have fevers, infections or bowel/bladder incontinence.

Relieve Pain through Heat

Heat therapy is a procedure that uses heat for relieving and treating pain. It is generally used to treat many sports-related injuries, particularly those that are musculoskeletal in nature. Heat therapy capitalizes on the ability of heat to reduce pain and stiffness, increase blood flow to the injured or affected area and minimize muscle spasm.

The use of heat therapy is largely dependent on the condition of the individual and how his body responds to the treatment. As a general rule, however, heat therapy is used for treating pain that repeatedly recurs, or what is referred to as chronic pain, and in late-stage acute injuries. Chronic pain usually results from overuse and misuse of a body part, or even from accidents.

Heat therapy is often used to treat headaches, stiff joints and muscles (usually in the back). When used in conjunction with exercise, heat therapy is applied to warm the muscles before the individual begins exercising.
Heat therapy is generally used to treat chronic pain arising from musculoskeletal injuries. Because heat stimulates blood flow, it increases oxygen supply to muscles and joints, relaxing them and, in the process, easing pain.