WHAT IS PHYSICAL THERAPY?

Many of us have had physical therapy (PT) at some point in our lives, perhaps after surgery or an accident to rehabilitate a muscle or movement. For early intervention, physical therapy is play time! Much like occupational therapy, physical therapy teaches an infant or toddler how to move their body and meet their developmental milestones through playtime activities.

There are many ways to incorporate PT exercises into you child’s daily routine and playtime, making it easy to help your child practices these movements each day.

None of the content below is intended as medical or therapeutic advice or recommendations. I am only sharing what I personally have learned from my son’s physical therapy journey, and how beneficial it was for us both. If you think your child is delayed in his or her gross motor development, be sure to address your concerns with their pediatrician, and seek an evaluation from your county or school district’s Early Intervention program.

In this video, a pediatric physical therapist explains some things to watch for in the gross motor development of your child.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIlEKJhzdf0

“In early intervention, our end goal focuses on the family, determining what supports they need and how they can best care for their child to reach their full potential.

You are your child’s biggest advocate.”

Some key takeaways:

• There is a lot of overlap between PT and OT.

• Physical therapy focuses on how the body is moving as a whole, and how parts of the body affect other parts.

• The end goal of physical therapy looks different for every patient and how to best meet their needs.

• Early intervention helps families get the support and services they need to help their child reach his or her full potential.

• When determining you child’s overall development, observe gross motor movements and development. Do their movements look natural or different?

• Therapists cannot make a medical diagnosis, but can provide the family and doctors with observations they have, such as how the child moves or fluctuations in tone, to guide the diagnosis.

• An early intervention team consists of a variety of specialists and therapists, including physical, occupational, speech, hearing, vision, and developmental.

• Early intervention specialists go into the home to show the parents and/or caregiver how to incorporate exercises into daily living.

• Don’t be worried if you child resists you more than they do the therapist – that is normal!

• You are your child’s biggest advocate. Don’t be afraid to ask or discuss concerns if something in therapy isn’t working.

Kieran began weekly physical therapy sessions at age five months, after an occupational therapist evaluated him and thought he had high tone. I discussed this with my son’s pediatrician, and she promptly referred him to PT. This was before we noticed other delays and received an evaluation for my county’s Early Intervention program, so Kieran’s PT was not part of his larger Early Intervention team, but the point is that he got the help he needed when he needed it, and that is what matters most!

Early Intervention looks different for each child

“Early Intervention” might look a bit different for every child, so don’t get worried if you’re pulling in therapists from various resources if that is what works best for your child and routine. Don’t wait to seek intervention as soon as you notice something looks “different” because you’re not sure of which therapies and services your child will need down the road. Most health insurance covers one or more of these therapies, and you can always pause and reevaluate your service providers in order to assemble the right early intervention team for your kiddo. However, each U.S. state and territory is required to provide free early intervention services, so don’t hesitate to utilize that option if you can.

At age five months, Kieran was not able to roll himself over onto his back, so that was the first skill his PT, Ms. G., worked with him on. It was quite fascinating to see how a PT would “teach” a five-month-old baby how to do a physical skill, but Ms. G. had some clever ways to help Kieran learn the sequential movements required to roll over, and we practiced it at home every day. In a short time, he was able to do it himself, and once his brain made the muscle memory, he had no problem rolling over on his own going forward. Once Kieran mastered a developmental skill, Ms. G. moved on to the next one, helping him build up his muscle memory and build upon each new skill and movement learned.

Sequential Development

Through Ms. G., I learned just how important it is for our bodies to develop in a certain sequence, and how skipping a step in that sequence can lead to musculoskeletal problems later on. For example, Kieran could not crawl on all four hands and legs by 12 months old. He did the "army crawl," instead. Part of that could have been sensory seeking, as he liked the pressure of the floor on his belly. But he also did not like to bend his body. Ms. G. said his brain was “wired to keep his body straight.” Physically he could bend – he just didn’t like to, or it never occurred to him that he could. He preferred to lie on his back and push himself around with his legs, so why bother trying to bend and crawl, right?

However, our brains need to learn the alternating left-right pattern that occurs when we crawl as babies, which is needed for alternating the left and right legs and arms for walking and running. We also need to crawl on our hands and legs to create the 90 degree angle pattern in our brain, which is necessary for learning to stand and squat, which is necessary for learning to sit down in a chair and stand back up, and so forth. These are all key brain-muscle connections that we need to make in order for proper musculoskeletal development and sequential muscle movement.

Kieran has now been receiving PT for over four years! The progress he’s made has been remarkable, and I have a new appreciate for how amazing our bodies are, and how each part of our body is designed to develop and move in coordination with other parts. Watch for these indicators of gross motor development in your own kiddos, and don’t be afraid or ashamed to have your child evaluated if you sense that something “looks different” with how they move.

** This post is not intended to provide medical or therapeutic information. I am only sharing what I have learned from my son’s therapies for his developmental delays. Please consult with your child’s pediatrician or therapist to learn what is best for your own child’s developmental and medical needs. **