Would Your Child Benefit From Physiotherapy

When we think of physiotherapy, we tend to think of someone trying to get their strength back following an accident. Although it is generally thought of as a helpful tool for adults, physiotherapy can be greatly beneficial to children. Furthermore, physiotherapy isn’t simply for injury rehabilitation. Visiting a physiotherapy clinic with your child can help them improve their speech, coordination, weight, and developmental issues.

Children and physiotherapy: Will your child benefit?

When a child is slow to develop their motor skills or is putting on weight rapidly, we often think they’ll outgrow it. However, this isn’t always the case. Bad habits like slouching can form without you realizing it and your child might need a push in the right direction to helping them overcome their issues.

Children with motor skill developmental issues can benefit from working with a physiotherapist because everything from sitting, standing and walking will be addressed and corrected. A visit to a physiotherapy clinic can yield improvements in endurance, flexibility and strength, allowing your child to develop properly.

Physiotherapy can also address other child-related issues like bad posture, poor penmanship (bad writing can be a sign of unstable core strength), speech disorders (done in conjunction with a speech-language pathologist), and coordination problems.

Besides the aforementioned issues, children with the following can benefit from visiting a physiotherapy clinic:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Concussion/Brain injuries
• Cerebral Palsy
• Down Syndrome
• Spina Bifida
• Weight issues (overweight/underweight)
• Motor Skill Developmental Delays
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Scoliosis
• Neck/head problems (Torticollis, Plagiocephaly)

Because each program is tailor-made for the individual, your physiotherapist will create the right regimen for your child’s needs.

Athletes and physiotherapy

Many athletic children benefit from a visit to the physiotherapy clinic. Physiotherapy isn’t just about rehabilitation following an injury, it can also help children develop their fine motor skills, learn proper stretching techniques, and strengthen their muscles to help keep sports injuries at bay. Your budding NHL player may be the best goalie on their team but that doesn’t mean they don’t need help keeping their muscles from tightening when they’re off the ice. The same goes for that young gymnast in your family, who can use the help of a physiotherapist to work on their balance.

For more information about how physiotherapy can help your child, contact us or visit our physiotherapy clinic.