Physical Therapy

Children are different when it comes to muscular strength, coordination, balance, acquisition of motility skills, sensorial and motility functions, relaxation ability.
A comprehensive physical therapy program helps children through practical exercises and cooperation to better know their body, to better integrate into the environment, to better interact with other.

Remember that children’s main activity is play! This is why the therapy sessions will consist of games initiated either by the therapist or the child, leading to a therapeutic purpose.

The physiotherapy program has the following objectives:

• Developing the general motility (motility abilities and skills)
• Fine motor and motility competence development essential to self-serving and various practical activities
• Educated the static and dynamic balance
• Educating the pace and movement coordination
• Development of lateral dominance
• Develop perception, orientation, spatiotemporal organization capacity
• Formation of the correct perception of body scheme

In physical therapy programs, the social, emotional, cognitive, communication skills are practiced as much as the motility skills.
The motility skills are an important component of the educational programs, movement helping the child not only in terms of motion, but socially and emotionally as well.
Children with autistic spectrum disorder and Asperger syndrome may have deficiencies in terms of muscular strength, coordination, balance, learning basic motor skills, sensorimotor functions and ability to relax.
A comprehensive physical therapy program helps children through practical exercises and cooperation to better know their body, to better integrate into the environment, to better interact with other.
It has been also proved that intense physical exercise led to the decrease of aggression and self-abuse, self-stimulation, hyperkinetic behavior and stereotypes in children with autism.

Physical therapy in other affections:

1. Physical therapy in brain paralysis has as main objectives:
• Improving spasticity
• Improving joint mobility
• Improvement of static and dynamic posture
• Improvement of functional movement
• Coarse motility development according to the child’s chronological age
• Inhibition of dysfunctional movements (opisthotonos, asymmetric cervical reflex if present over age of 4 moths)

Used means:
• Posturing and stretching (especially at home) through individualized programs recommended by the physical therapist
• Moves guided by the therapist during some games (ex: trunk rotation when the child picks objects from one side and places them with the same hand on the opposite side)
• The use of adjuvant means for maintaining the functional position of various joints (ankle – to reduce the valgus; fist – to reduce internal rotation)

2. Physical therapy in Down syndrome, Williams syndrome or in any other condition that is manifested by physical weakness has as main objectives:
• The increase of muscular tone
• The improve of body posture in static and dynamic (getting the back ready for the orthostatic position)
• The coarse motility development in accordance with the child’s chronological age
• The inhibition of dysfunctional movements (opisthotonos, asymmetric cervical reflex if present over age of 4 moths)

Used means:
• Activities, games that stimulate the coarse motility development according the child’s chronological age
• Activities, games to stimulate the increase of muscle tone
• Use of adjuvant means for maintaining the functional position of various joints (ankle – to reduce the valgus; fist – to reduce internal rotation)
• Activities for body scheme awareness (proprioceptive activities or mirror motor imitation)

3. Physical therapy in traumatic orthopedic affections (dislocations, sprains, scoliosis, congenital hip dislocation or congenital clubfoot)
• Vicious posture correction
• Improving joint mobility
• Improving muscle tone
• Reintegration of affected limb/limbs in the body scheme

Used means:
• Use of adjuvant means for maintaining the functional position of various joints (ankle – to reduce the valgus; fist – to reduce internal rotation)
• Activities for body scheme awareness (proprioceptive activities or mirror motor imitation)
• Activities, games to stimulate the increase of muscle tone
• Activities, games to increase joint mobility (be it passive mobilization, active-passive movement or active movement)