Pediatric Physical Therapy is a specialty dedicated to improving the lives and daily function of children with acute and chronic disabilities.
Amy Phelps is a pediatric physical therapist with extensive expertise caring for children who have a wide range of congenital and acquired conditions resulting in physical disabilities. Any child that has difficulties with motor milestones would benefit from her services.
Emphasis is placed on the optimization of function through specialized physical modalities, therapies, adaptive equipment, and assistive devices, orthotics (braces), prostheses, and collaboration with other sub-specialists to provide a multidisciplinary approach to treatment.
Conditions include, but not limited to torticollis, cerebral palsy, toe walking, developmental delay (i.e child not walking at 12 months), and a variety of other conditions. Any child that has difficulties with motor milestones would benefit from her services.
Physical therapy can benefit your child if they are experiencing or have experienced a variety of conditions
If your child has a condition that does not fit into any of the following categories or you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us to inquire.
- Abnormal muscle tone and strength
- Apraxia
- Autism
- Balance/frequent falls
- Birth defects
- Body alignment
- Brachial plexus injuries
- Cerebral Palsy
- Developmental milestone delays
- Endurance
- Genetic disorders
- Gross motor development
- Head injuries
- Hypotonia/low muscle tone
- Joint stiffness
- Locomotion patterns
- Mild bracing/orthotics
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Neuromuscular function
- Orthopedic disabilities or injuries
- Posture/postural control
- Pre-gait and gait training
- Spina Bifida
- Sports injuries
- Toe walking
- Torticollis
- Vestibular Dysfunction
Signs your child might need physical therapy
If you are concerned about your child meeting their developmental milestones, you should have your child evaluated by a specially trained pediatric physical therapist. Here are some signs to look out for:
- They are showing signs of delayed milestones including rolling, sitting, crawling, or walking
- They prefer to turn their head only to one side
- They aren’t bearing weight on their legs by 6 months
- They aren’t sitting by 8 months
- They aren’t crawling by 12 months
- They aren’t walking by 18 months
- They walk on tippy toes for more than 6 months
- They fatigue easily or show poor postural control
- They have had a recent injury or surgery that has restricted strength, mobility or range of motion
- They have difficulty keeping up with peers on the playground or while playing team sports
How physical therapy and occupational therapy differ
Although both Physical and Occupational Therapy help to improve kids’ quality of life, there are differences, and the two can overlap and work in conjunction, as well.
Physical therapy (PT) deals with pain, joint range of motion, strength, endurance, and gross motor functioning, and aims to treat the impairment or injury and help increase physical function. Our focus is for children to be as mobile and independent as possible while educating their caregivers on all aspects of their child’s physical development, which involves anything that may affect a child’s quality of movement, posture, alignment, and safety.
Occupational Therapy (OT) deals more with fine motor skills, visual-perceptual skills, cognitive skills, and sensory-processing deficits, and aims to improve the quality of a child’s participation in their daily functional tasks like bathing, eating, dressing, or grooming. A cognitive or developmental disability might further complicate these tasks, and Occupational Therapy aims to help with a child navigate life, despite these challenges.
Physical therapy services for children may include the following
We are passionate about helping children explore the world and aim to make every session fun while working on developing and improving strength, flexibility, range of motion, posture, balance, and movement patterns for any child in need of intervention.
- Strength
Strengthening exercises that are designed to help children increase strength, endurance, and coordination to build stronger, healthier bodies and minds.
- Flexibility
Stretching exercises develop flexibility and keep muscles from stiffening up. Flexibility will help your child move around more easily and without pain.
- Range of Motion
Exercises to help maintain flexibility and mobility and to allow for more natural, deeper movements while building strength and stability.
- Posture Training
Training to provide postural control giving a child the ability to assume and maintain an upright posture while seated without support.
- Balance Training
Improving balance and equilibrium skills to help maintain normal postural control through interactions and the environment.
- Movement
Treatment to establish or transform movement patterns to follow healthy development.
- Play-based therapy
We integrate play into our activities to make our sessions fun!
If you think your child might benefit from physical therapy, we would love to help with any questions you may have. Contact us anytime.
