What is Scoliosis? Scoliosis is the curving and turning of the spines in children and adolescents. It’s most common form is ‘idiopathic scoliosis’ which means we are not sure why it occurs. It is also common in children with neuromuscular disorders such as cerebral palsy. Congenital...
Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) impacts approximately 5% of our population. This means about 1 child in every class is affected. DCD describes children who are significantly clumsy, fall a lot and struggle with basic motor skills. It does not include children whose condition can be...
Crawling is a big milestone we look for in our babies. It is commonly achieved between 9-12 months of age. In recent times there has been some controversy about how important crawling is. Here at Western Paediatric Physiotherapy, we believe it is an extremely important...
Every child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will present differently. However, it is common that children with ASD will require physiotherapy. Whilst children with ASD will not initially appear behind in their motor development than their peers you may notice that your child's movement is...
What is Muscle tone? Muscle tone refers to the amount of underlying tension in a muscle. It describes how much tension is in a muscle when it is relaxed. What happens when it is low tone? In children, low muscle tone is used to describe when an infant...
A common question that all new parents ask is when should my child be meeting milestones? These include rolling, sitting, crawling, standing and walking. This is dependent on a few factors, if your child is born premature, they will take longer to meet milestones as compared...
When we have new born babies we hear a lot about tummy time, but why is it so important? And how much tummy time should our babies do? Why is it important? Lying on tummy's is important for babies as it helps to develop neck, back, hip...
Normal Walking/Gait As parents it is natural to worry about the way your children walk, particularly if something looks a bit quirky or you feel it is causing your child to have lots of falls. As your child begins to start walking there are lots of...
Plagiocephaly Plagiocephaly is a condition that impacts newborns through to babies approximately 8 months of age. It is sometimes known as flat head syndrome. Babies are born with softened heads; this means that if they spend too much time lying on one side of their head...
Coming into summer the days are getting hotter which means it's time for the pool and/or beach! Spending time in the water in crucial for children to develop water skills that will help keep them safe. Water play also assists children in developing muscle stretch,...