Physiotherapy Blog

Promote your Infant's Development

As a pediatric physiotherapist, I'm often asked what does it take to make sure my infant develops on track with his peers. When we think if development, it involves development in motor skills, language and communication, social emotional skills and thinking skills. A recent study by Carson et al, 2024 in Child: Care, Health and Development asked that very question. They studied 93 parents and their infants and looked at different infant activities including tummy time play,

Dr. Janet Hale

Jul 163 min read

Tummy time - How much is enough?

I'm often asked by new parents how much tummy time do I need to do with my infant? A recent study from Zhang et al, 2022 (European Journal of Pediatrics) gives us some answers to those questions. Parents kept a journal of the time spent in tummy time at 2 months, 4 months and 6 months. Tummy times were measured in bouts of 5 minutes and total times / day were calculated. This time was compared to overall development on the Ages and Stages questionnaire, a developmental paren

Dr. Janet Hale

Jun 114 min read

Updates in Pediatric Physiotherapy - Traffic Lights for best practice in Cerebral Palsy

Did you know that there is a traffic light protocol - on what physiotherapist SHOULD do and shouldn't do for the treatment of infants and children with cerebral palsy, best practice in physiotherapy in cerebral palsy. According to an updated article in 2020 by Novak and others, we are getting much better at medical intervention in the Neonatal Intensive Care, including paying attention to parents and making sure they get lots of time with their infants. We are also getting be

Dr. Janet Hale

Nov 25, 20243 min read

Updates in Pediatric Physiotherapy - Training Motor Movements

Hi everyone! I'm just back from the American Pediatric Physical Therapy Conference in Rhode Island and they were reminding us about how what to focus on in training new motor movements like crawling, walking, balancing, climbing etc. The most important concept is that the infant or child do the motor movement themselves or actively - that is what creates motor learning and develops the brain circuitry. Training motor movements has to be fun, something the child is interested

Dr. Janet Hale

Nov 25, 20242 min read

Tips from PACE Physio - What can pediatric physiotherapy do for my child with Cerebral Palsy?

Tips from PACE Physio - What can a pediatric physiotherapist do for my child with Cerebral Palsy?

Dr. Janet Hale

Jun 14, 20213 min read

Tips from PACE Physio, Infant Physiotherapy, on the KEY milestones of motor development in the first year of life?

Important Motor Milestones: In pediatric physiotherapy, I am often asked by parents what are the important motor milestones in that first year and when should they get concerned. Generally infants learn to lift their head up and begin to tolerate tummy-time by 2 - 3 months, control their head in all positions by 4 months, roll from their back to their tummy by 6 months, sit independently without falling over by 7 months, crawl on all fours by 9 months, get up to standing a

Dr. Janet Hale

Jun 3, 20213 min read

Tips from PACE Physio - What can a pediatric physiotherapist do for my child with Down Syndrome ?

Dr. Janet Hale

May 23, 20212 min read

Tips from PACE Physio - Why would my infant or child see a pediatric physiotherapist?

Dr. Janet Hale

May 16, 20212 min read