Situations When Your Infant May Need Physical Therapy

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Having a baby is one of the most exciting things a person can experience, but it is also a time of great worry and concern. If your infant has certain issues not long after birth, your doctor may recommend physical therapy. The good news is, physical therapy can be highly effective for helping infants with certain conditions, even some that can initially sound really severe. Take a look at some of the situations when an infant may need physical therapy. 

The doctor suspects your child has suffered a brain injury during delivery. 

Brain injuries during delivery can be a concern during, especially traumatic births. Typically, thorough testing will be done right after birth to determine if there could be a brain injury to be concerned about. In most situations, brain injuries during birth are quite mild, and your baby can get treatment to overcome the injury to their brain. One thing a doctor may recommend is physical therapy. For instance, if your child seems to pull their shoulders forward, this can be caused by a neurological reaction in the brain, but the muscles can be manipulated to respond in a different manner. 

You notice your infant seems to favor one side of their body. 

Favoring one side of the body can be a sign of neurological problems, but these problems are not always permanent disabilities for small infants because they can grow and improve with time and the proper treatment. Through physical therapy, muscle groups and nerves can be trained to respond and react just like the other side of the body. If you notice that your child only uses one arm or seems to only kick one of their legs, this can mean something is going on. Talk to your pediatrician about what you are witnessing and they can run some basic tests to determine if physical therapy may help. 

The infant seems to have poor posture skills by a certain age. 

Developmental milestones are important because they let parents and doctors know when there could be something wrong and an infant is not developing normally. By a certain point, your child should be able to hold their own head up and keep their back straight, for example. If you notice that this is not taking place at an age when most babies already are capable of supporting their head and keep their upper spine straight, your baby may need physical therapy. 


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