Physical Therapy
Pediatric Physical Therapy
Kids are supposed to move.
Rolling over. Sitting up. Crawling. Walking. Climbing the playground. Running after a sibling. Learning to ride a bike. Keeping up at practice.
But sometimes movement does not come as easily as expected.
Maybe your baby always looks to one side. Your toddler is not walking yet. Your child falls more than other kids their age, struggles with stairs, tires quickly, walks on their toes, or has trouble keeping up on the playground.
Pediatric physical therapy helps children build the strength, balance, coordination and confidence they need to move through their world.
Infancy through young adulthood. Serving children at more than 20 locations across Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee.
The question parents usually start with
How do I know if my child needs physical therapy?
Sometimes the concern is obvious. Your child missed a major motor milestone. They had an injury or surgery. Your pediatrician noticed something during a well visit.
Other times, it is more subtle.
Maybe your child can walk, but falls often. They can climb the stairs, but always lead with the same leg. They are playing sports, but coordination seems harder for them than it is for other kids. Or you keep noticing that they use one side of their body differently than the other.
You do not need to know exactly what is causing it before asking for help.
If something about the way your child moves is concerning you, an evaluation can help you understand what is going on and whether physical therapy would be helpful.
By age
What physical therapy can look like at every stage
The skills a physical therapist works on depend on your child’s age, development and goals.
Babies & toddlers
Building the foundation for movement
Early physical development happens quickly.
Babies learn to control their head, roll, sit, crawl, pull to stand and eventually walk. Each skill builds on the ones that came before it.
A physical therapist may help if your baby or toddler:
- Consistently looks or turns their head to one side
- Has a flat spot developing on their head
- Reaches or rolls more easily in one direction
- Seems stiff or unusually floppy
- Is late to sit, crawl, stand or walk
- Moves differently on one side of the body
- Has difficulty with balance or coordination
- Has a medical diagnosis that may affect development
Preschool & early elementary
When movement gets more complicated
As children get older, they are asked to do more than simply walk.
They run. Jump. Climb. Balance. Navigate stairs. Kick and catch. Play on playground equipment. Participate in gym class.
You may begin noticing:
- Frequent falls or tripping
- Difficulty going up or down stairs
- Trouble jumping with both feet
- Difficulty keeping up with other children
- Poor balance
- Trouble catching, kicking or throwing
- Toe walking
- Difficulty climbing playground equipment
- Avoiding active play because it feels hard
- Weakness or low endurance
Sometimes a child finds their own way to compensate and gets the job done. PT looks at how they are moving, not simply whether they can complete the task.
Older children & teens
Strength, coordination, mobility and getting back to what they love
Physical therapy is not only for babies who are late to walk.
Older children and teens may benefit from PT because of:
- Sports injuries
- Surgery or orthopedic conditions
- Pain with activity
- Weakness
- Poor balance or coordination
- Limited range of motion
- Difficulty running or jumping
- Postural concerns
- Neurological or genetic conditions
- Difficulty participating in sports or other physical activities
- Use of braces, walkers or other mobility equipment
The goal is not simply stronger muscles. It is helping your child use that strength to participate more fully in school, sports, play and everyday life.
Do not wait on this one
If your baby always turns the same way, ask about torticollis
One thing we especially do not want families to wait on is a baby who consistently looks or turns in one direction.
Torticollis can affect more than neck movement.
A baby who prefers one side may begin reaching differently, rolling in only one direction or developing movement patterns that affect later milestones.
Physical therapy can work on positioning, active movement, strengthening and strategies you can use throughout the day at home.
The earlier we can address those patterns, the better opportunity we have to support more symmetrical development.
Areas of care
What do pediatric physical therapists work on?
Gross motor development
Rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, walking, running, jumping and the larger movement skills children develop as they grow.
Strength
Building the muscle strength a child needs to move, play and complete everyday activities.
Balance
Helping children stay steady while sitting, standing, walking, climbing and moving across different surfaces.
Coordination
Teaching the body to work together smoothly for movements like running, jumping, kicking, catching and navigating an obstacle course.
Motor planning
Helping a child figure out how to plan and perform a new movement or sequence of movements.
Range of motion & flexibility
Addressing tightness or restricted movement that may make everyday activities harder or change how a child moves.
Posture & alignment
Looking at how a child’s body is positioned during sitting, standing and movement and whether that position is affecting function.
Walking & mobility
Supporting children who are learning to walk, have an unusual walking pattern or use mobility equipment to move safely and independently.
Stairs & environmental navigation
Practicing the real-world movement skills children need at home, school, on the playground and in the community.
Injury & post-surgical rehabilitation
Helping children safely rebuild movement, strength and confidence following an injury, surgery or period of limited activity.
What to expect
What happens at a physical therapy evaluation?
You do not need to prepare your child to “perform” for us. The goal of the evaluation is to understand how your child moves and what matters most to your family.
First, we listen
Your therapist will talk with you about what you have been noticing. What is hard? What is your child avoiding? What would you most like them to be able to do?
That information helps guide the entire evaluation.
Then we watch your child move
Depending on your child’s age and abilities, we might watch them play on the floor, roll, sit or crawl, walk or run, climb stairs, jump, balance, navigate an obstacle or move around the therapy gym.
For younger children, we may put toys out and get down on the floor with them. For older children, we may look more specifically at strength, flexibility, coordination, balance or functional movement.
We look beyond the one thing you noticed
If your concern is that your child falls frequently, we are not simply counting falls. We may look at strength, balance, coordination, range of motion, muscle tone, motor planning and the way different parts of the body work together.
The goal is to understand why the movement is difficult.
We measure where your child is starting
Your therapist may use a standardized assessment along with measurements of strength, range of motion, balance or other skills. Those measurements give us a baseline so we can track progress over time.
Then we build the plan together
Your family’s priorities matter. We will talk about what we found, what goals make sense and what the next steps should be.
What therapy actually looks like
It may look like play. There is a lot happening underneath it.
A PT session with a child probably will not look like an adult physical therapy appointment. Your child may be climbing, stepping over obstacles, playing with a ball, working through an obstacle course or putting together a puzzle.
But every activity has a reason.
A therapist might place puzzle pieces on one side of the room and have your child step over obstacles to retrieve them. Your child thinks they are completing a puzzle. The therapist may be working on balance, coordination, strength, motor planning, endurance and stepping skills.
We want children to be engaged in what they are doing. That may mean using a favorite toy, letting them make choices or turning an exercise into a game.
The therapy goal stays the same. We just find a way to make the work meaningful to the child.
Progress
How do we know physical therapy is working?
Progress does not always look like a dramatic new milestone.
Sometimes it is the first time your baby rolls toward a sibling. Sometimes your child climbs the stairs more easily. They stand on one foot longer. They run without falling. They try something on the playground they used to avoid. Or they finally hit the ball at T-ball.
Those changes matter.
We also track measurable progress through things like:
- Strength
- Range of motion
- Balance
- Coordination
- Gross motor skills
- Standardized developmental measures
- Individual goals created with your family
Your therapist regularly reassesses those goals and adjusts the treatment plan as your child develops.
But numbers are only part of the picture. Confidence matters too, and so does being able to participate in something your child could not comfortably do before.
When several therapies are involved
Your child’s care should fit together
Some children receive physical therapy along with occupational therapy, speech therapy, ABA or another service.
Those therapies may address different goals, but the child is still one child.
Our therapists collaborate when their work overlaps. That may mean reviewing each other’s notes, talking about what is working in another session or helping reinforce a skill another therapist is targeting.
For some children, two therapists may even work together during part of a session when that makes clinical sense. The goals remain different, but the therapies can complement one another.
Between appointments
What you do at home matters
A child may see their physical therapist for less than an hour each week. But children learn new movement patterns through repetition. A lot of it.
That is why home carryover is such an important part of physical therapy. Your therapist may:
- Give you exercises to practice
- Show you positioning techniques
- Send home a handout
- Provide a resistance band or another simple tool
- Record a short video so you remember how to do an exercise correctly
- Show you how to work a skill into something your family already does
You do not need to turn your house into a therapy clinic. The goal is to find realistic ways to practice the skill throughout everyday life.
And if you are not sure what you should be doing at home, ask. Your therapist wants you to understand what you are working on and why.
Why families choose APT
Therapy built around your child and your family
Your goals help shape treatment
We want to know what would actually change your child’s daily life. That may be walking independently, making it up the stairs, playing on the playground, returning to a sport or keeping up with siblings.
Parents can be part of the process
You are part of your child’s therapy team. Your therapist will talk with you about what you are seeing at home and give you ways to continue working on skills between sessions.
Children are active participants
Therapy works better when children want to participate. We use toys, games, movement and activities they enjoy whenever possible so the work feels meaningful.
Our therapists work together
If your child receives multiple services at APT, their therapists can collaborate so everyone understands the bigger picture.
Our PT team has clinical support
APT’s Physical Therapy Discipline Advisor helps support therapists with clinical resources and professional development so they have the tools they need to provide strong care.
Find a clinic
You do not have to figure it out before you call us
Maybe your child is simply developing on their own timeline. Maybe there is something we can help with. An evaluation is how we figure that out.
If you are concerned about the way your child moves, their physical milestones, balance, strength or ability to participate in everyday activities, we are happy to take a closer look.