my little girl has low muscle tone and had been refered to see a physiotherapist.
Just wondering if anyone else has had to see one and would be able to tell me what to expect. thanks.
My DD1 had positional talipies (her feet were badly bent) so a different reason, we went for a few Ax she was only a about 6 months at the first one and the physio had a look and manipulated her feet and gave us some passive exercise to do daily. At 18 months she had another ax which was play based, balancing on a rope on the floor, chasing balls, climbing stairs and she enjoyed it. We didnt need to go again but the physio gave us a few ideas of how to help her through everday activities
I'm a physio, though I haven't worked in paediatrics for quite a few years.
Most paediatric physio will start by distracting your child with various toys while she asks you a bunch a questions, at the same time observing your daughter to see how she moves, what her posture and balance and so on are like. She'll then do a more formal assessment, but again, most paed physios disguise this as just playing, and often the child has no idea they're being 'tested', which means they behave much more normally. Some of it will be seeing if she can perform certain skills, depending on her age, some will be testing reflexes and flexibility and things. I used to have a song for one test, I'd say, 'Oh! do you know the song about the sun coming up? I love it, it goes like this... here, let me help you do the actions!' and then I could handle their limbs as I sang. It's highly unlikely that there will be anything scary or painful at all, and most kids and parents find it kind of fun to visit the physio.
The treatment is usually in the form of more play, as Sararose said, with the physio teaching you ideas of the kinds of play/activity/interaction to encourage (often jumping, bouncing, weightbearing-type activities for hypotonia) that will help her to develop normally.
If she has another primary carer (?her father? her grandmother) it's not a bad idea to have them along too, at least to come in for the last part of the session, so that they also get to hear the advice and see the demonstrations of whatever the 'treatment' is going to be. The physio generally has more time for you to ask questions, and also they often have a knack for explaining things in ways that parents understand more clearly compared to doctors, so make the most of the opportunity and have questions ready!
We see a physio once a month due to DD being a premmie and with her tummy issues. They wanted to make sure she's developing at the right speed and that her stomach muscles healed well, which they did.
We love our physio, she's amazing. It started off with DD just following a toy, rattling a toy behind her head and see if she would turn, neck strength, rolling, crawling.
It's really nothing to be worried of, it's a great reassurance at your little one is still hitting all the milestones.
My DD1 had low tone and we went monthly from 3-4 months she loved going as they made it realy fun for her they were also really good and gave lots of easy to follow sheats as to wher they needed her development to be.
My DD had low muscle tone and we saw a paed physio at the hosp from 6-18 months. First it was 3 weekly, then monthly, then 2 monthly. We were given exercises to do and activities to encourage sitting, crawling, standing, walking etc. By the time she was 18 months she had caught up and the physio said no one would ever know she had low muscle tone.
Both my wee Premmies saw the physio for developmental delays/low tone.
I loved our physio, she was awesome. The sessions where always a lot of fun as well as being very informative for me.
I was given excersizes to do at home with them. We saw her for their first year and for DS some into the second year.
I saw a huge improvement in a short time when concentrating on one issue at a time.
pediatric physiotherapist
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