What is Physical Therapy?

Physical Therapy (PT) is an intervention that focuses on helping individuals (in TLC’s case, children) with physical impairments that are impacting their mobility, balance, coordination, quality of movement, or age-appropriate gross motor skills.

Pediatric physical therapists examine and treat children from birth to age 18 for symptoms related to genetic, neurological, and orthopedic conditions. At TLC Kids Therapy, a typical session may include manual techniques to address the limitations of myofascial or soft tissue mobility, positional techniques to facilitate postural alignment, development of gross motor skills such as rolling, crawling, walking, jumping, riding a bike, climbing stairs, climbing stairs, and transitions between positions.

Other common interventions include flexibility training to maximize range of motion, general strength training through everyday play,  and gait training to improve running and walking patterns. Family education is essential to success in physical therapy and a recommended individualized home exercise program will be given to each family to ensure carry over of skilled physical therapy intervention.

Physical therapy commonly collaborates with occupation and speech therapy (if needed) to optimize your child’s success in the home and school environment.

What to look for:

• Abnormal Gait Pattern: Frequent falling and/or stumbling. 
• Hypertonia (High Muscle Tone): Uncontrollable muscle spasms, stiffening, straightening out of muscles. 
• Hypotonia (Low Muscle Tone): Looking “floppy”, being unable to keep up with peers. 
• Delayed Milestones: Is your child delayed in gross motor skills? Read more to find out. 
• Decreased Flexibility/Restrictions in Range-or-Motion: Sports injuries or surgery recuperation. 
• Ligament Laxity: “Double-jointedness”. 
• Asymmetrical Movement Patterns: Able to roll to one side, but not the other
• Poor Posture: Preference for “W-Sitting” or having trouble sitting up straight in chairs. 
• Frequent Loss of Balance 
• Core or Lower Extremity Weakness 
• Lack of Coordination 
• Pain

Accepted Insurance Providers for OT, PT, and Speech Therapy

We are in network with several insurance companies. To verify if our clinic takes your insurance please call 210-490-3900