Physiotherapy services for children and young people

Physiotherapy promotes an individual’s health and wellbeing, helping them to move optimally. Physiotherapy can be helpful for people of all ages with a wide variety of health conditions and children’s physiotherapists use specialist knowledge of child development and childhood conditions to treat babies, children and young people.They assess and treat movement difficulties, developmental concerns or pain, which may impact on daily activities and function. Children’s physiotherapists also treat children and young people who have short term musculoskeletal sprains and strains and help them recover after fractures. Whether these movement difficulties are from birth, develop during childhood, are associated with a long-term condition or result from an injury, children’s physiotherapists aim to help children acquire or regain functional movement skills. The focus is on helping children and young people to achieve their best possible physical function to enable participation in everyday activities at home, at school and in their community.

Our children’s physiotherapy service provides assessment, advice and treatment to children and young people from birth up to 18 years old. We provide the service in community and hospital settings, working closely with the child/young person and their family to ensure family centred care, and the wider multi-disciplinary team including doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, play specialists, teachers, teaching assistants and colleagues in social care when appropriate.

Download a leaflet about physiotherapy for children from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

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Referral details

Babies, children and young people (0-18 years old) living in Camden or who have a Camden GP may be referred to the children’s physiotherapy team. We will also accept referrals for children and young people attending a school in Camden who have physiotherapy on their Educational, Health and Care plan (EHCP).  

Who can refer?

• Medical staff (including referrals from other hospitals)
• GPs
• Physiotherapists
• Occupational therapists
• Camden health visitors
• Camden schools when a pupil has an EHCP with physiotherapy needs

 
How to make a referral

Babies, children and young people can be referred by health professionals to the service through the online single point of referral (SPOR) system. For further information and guidance please contact SPOR administrator on 020 3317 2250.Babies with club foot (or talipes equinovarus) can be referred to the Ponseti service using the referral form and emailing it to: rf-tr.rfh-ponseti@nhs.net.

Reasons for referral

• Musculoskeletal problems eg sports injuries, strains, sprains and recovery if movement is lost after a fracture
• Physical disabilities related to neurological and neuromuscular conditions eg cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy
• Difficulties associated with balance and coordination
• Delay in acquiring motor skills
• Orthopaedic and rheumatological conditions eg childhood arthritis, structural talipes equinovarus
• Rehabilitation after prolonged illness
• Congenital disorders eg torticollis, plagiocephaly, spina bifida and Erbs palsy
• Medical conditions affecting movement
• Down syndrome

Physiotherapy treatment may include:

• Advice on exercise and footwear
• General advice on activity and sport
• Treatment eg exercises to stretch and or strengthen, work on balance, co-ordination, working on core stability and neurodevelopmental therapy helping optimise functional movement
• For some children, physiotherapy involves splinting, casting or providing orthotics
• Providing mobility aids
• Postural management to ensure and maintain good posture and seating for disabled children and young people to support their function and comfort
• Treating respiratory, orthopaedic and other conditions affecting mobility or breathing while an inpatient on the children’s ward at the Royal Free hospital. 
• Working with those who have had orthopaedic surgery who need to be mobile to go home
• Treating babies and young children for orthopaedic and neurological conditions.

The decision may be to:

• Reassure and advise
• Provide targeted activities or physiotherapy programme of exercises
• Provide one-to-one physiotherapy
• Provide group physiotherapy sessions
• Refer for orthotics or specialist equipment
• Advise on physical activity