Full Physiotherapy assessments may be carried out as ‘one-offs’ or before starting treatment. One-off’ assessments may be required for:
Your child’s first physiotherapy appointment with KidsPhysio will involve a thorough examination to establish the most appropriate physiotherapy management.
Your physiotherapist will ask you questions. The questions will depend on the nature of your child’s problems and your concerns and desired outcome of physiotherapy. You may be asked about your child’s development, any medication they may be taking, any surgery they have had or are due to have, how they are managing at school, their abilities and difficulties, any pain there are suffering from, whether they see an NHS Physiotherapist and if so how often. Your child will be involved as much as possible where appropriate in these discussions.
Your child will need to be appropriately undressed for the physical examination. This is important in order to see how your child moves, for example which muscles are more or less active and any postural problems that they have or may develop.
Once we have established the main problems and causes, we will discuss this with you and together we will establish a plan for your child’s physiotherapy treatment, including goals, aims and treatment frequency. This will include what we can do to help you and what you can do to help.
You will always have the opportunity to discuss any concerns or questions you may have as we consider this of high importance.
Physiotherapy appointment times and frequency will vary for different children, family situations and conditions. Your physiotherapist will discuss with you the optimum frequency of physiotherapy treatment they feel your child would benefit from. However, it is entirely up to you how often we see your child.
A child’s requirement for private physiotherapy will vary, for example more intensive treatment may be required during an adolescent growth spurt or for a toddler starting to walk. It may be that your child’s NHS Physiotherapist can offer more treatment for a short time so you need less private physiotherapy support. At KidsPhysio, our physiotherapists understand that your requirements will vary and will be flexible according to your child’s needs.
Our Physiotherapists provide an eclectic approach to a child’s physiotherapy management, incorporating play into treatment sessions whenever appropriate.
In order to maximise your child’s progress with physiotherapy, it is important to carry out exercises and activities in between appointments. At KidsPhysio, our Physiotherapists understand and appreciate that it can be difficult to fit exercises into busy family lives and that children do not always cooperate with their parents when it comes to doing exercises! We will give you realistic programmes to carry out and endeavour to incorporate physiotherapy exercises into your family’s lifestyle, involving siblings and other family members if this helps.