Play in Paediatric Physiotherapy

It is well accepted in society that play based activities are essential to a child's cognitive, social and physical development. However, is a play based approach to physiotherapy right for your child's needs? With so many different clinic formats available to you how do you determine what will be best?

Firstly, a play based approach to physiotherapy will consist of you working along side the treating therapist to determine your goals. From here, your physio will design games and set up activities that engage and pique the interest of your child. Mainly working with children with lifelong disabilities I have found this to be a very effective way of keeping a client engaged over a long period of time. For children in this demographic we are often working on a particular motor skill for an extended period of time and so it is essential that we have different strategies in place to allow for the appropriate repetition/practice. Play also diverts the child's attention away from the harder aspects of a task and can therefore improve engagement and often sees children complete an activity/exercise for a longer period of time. I have seen first hand that forcing a child to complete an activity they are not interested in can lead to ongoing challenges with engagement in therapy and often further draws attention to the child's impairments; leading to lower self esteem and the development of a negative attitude towards all therapy interventions. Of course, at times, children need some strong encouragement to engage in activities and this is completely normal. However, it is our responsibility as therapists to reflect on when we are needing to provide too much "hands on" support for the child to complete the task and weigh this up with the true benefit it has for the child.

Not all children will need physiotherapy so I believe it is important to normalise the therapy process as much as possible and the best way to achieve this is through the use of play based strategies.

References:

Despina Kyriakidou (2016). Play integrated in physiotherapy for children with chronic health conditions. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:935629/FULLTEXT01.pdf