Week 3 of 6! I love making silly little nerdy videos and assume at least one of you likes watching silly little nerdy videos (like I do). Here are 3 of the many diagnoses I saw this week:
🧠 Cerebellar Hypoplasia
In Physical therapy, we emphasize treating the patient in of us, not the diagnosis. We look at the deficits—like strength, mobility, or coordination—and work on those regardless of the label. However, sometimes the diagnosis dictates how we teach the body to learn. Cerebellar Hypoplasia means the cerebellum, which is responsible for balance and coordination, is abnormally small.
This doesn’t just affect balance/coordination; it affects “motor learning,” which means for my 8 yo patient, she has to perform a much higher number of reps in order to retain a new skill such as jumping jacks. This means consistency, patience and high volumes of practice.
🦵🏼 Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a group of genetic disorders that cause peripheral nerve damage, mostly in the arms and legs leading to weakness, atrophy, and sensory loss. Think about how hard it would be to walk if you can’t feel your foot hit the floor or lift your toes high enough to clear the ground. This week I saw an 7-year-old who has used physical therapy to drastically reduce her daily falls. It’s a progressive condition, but with PT, patients live very full, mobile lives.
🧬 Turner Syndrome, which is a genetic condition in females caused by a missing or partial X chromosome that can lead to delayed skeletal maturation and a higher risk for scoliosis, fractures or hip dysplasia. This week I worked with a 2-year-old with turner syndrome on “obstacle clearance.” She was struggling with catching her foot on a tiny 1-2 inch obstacle. I suggested we add small ankle weights during her in practice so that after many reps of practice WITH the weight, after removing the weight her foot naturally cleared the obstacle without catching and causing a fall.
#physicaltherapy #clinicalrotation #pediatricphysicaltherapy #dptstudent #ptstudent
Brevity is not a skill I have currently 😭 here’s 3 min of fun facts for you, though! Or read below for wk 2 recap 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
1. Torticollis: Characterized by a tight sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle, resulting in a persistent head tilt and rotation. If untreated, it causes strength asymmetries and weight-bearing preferences toward the tilt side, potentially delaying motor development.
2. Untreated high bilirubin (jaundice) in infants can lead to permanent neurological damage. When a child has no access to quality medical care to treat this abnormality, this abnormality can progress into Dystonic Cerebral Palsy.
3. Organizations like Katy’s Closet (Milwaukee) provide a vital bridge for families waiting on insurance approval or those wishing to trial equipment before committing to a purchase.
4. This could go for any language, but knowing the American Sign Language alphabet and some short phrases allows for communication with a patient whose language is emerging or who relies completely on ASL. Even if you have a translator, it allows for communication TO the patient rather than to the translator or caregiver, which can help develop rapport and show how much you care. It’s what distinguishes a good problem solver or thinker from a patient-centered care provider.
5. Hospitals like Lurie Children’s (Chicago) and Children’s Wisconsin (Milwaukee) (and many more across the country) offer multidisciplinary clinics (e.g., Down Syndrome, Turner’s Syndrome, CF, Epilepsy, Diabetes, etc). These allow patients to see multiple specialists (Neuro, Endocrine, PT/OT/SLP) in back-to-back appointments, improving continuity and reducing family stress.
6. Electronic Medical Records now often highlight a social determinants of health “score” based on patient reported struggles(such as food insecurity, safety, or poverty). Awareness of these environmental factors allows clinicians to provide more empathetic, comprehensive psychosocial care, even if they cannot resolve the issues directly.
#physicaltherapy #clinicalrotation #pediatricphysicaltherapy #Milwaukee #dptstudent
6 Things I Learned on Week 1 of 6 in my Peds Rotation
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1. Even though I did not choose or desire this setting, there are many components of peds that translate to other populations (like neuro), which is part of why I’m challenging myself to think of and share these each week.
2. Premature babies born around 35 weeks can stay in the newborn stage extra long but tend to catch up in development later on.
3. No matter how medically complex a patient is, as a PT we treat the movement deficits we see in front of us. Obviously we keep in mind how the conditions affect their motor learning capacity, but we don’t get lost in the weeds of all their diagnoses.
4. Side to side visual tracking of an item in front of their face typically develops around 3-4mo. Small range tracking (or following a moving item with the eyes but not moving the neck to allow for more eye movement in tracking) past 3-4 months might indicate lack of cervical strength that is typically developed by that time.
5. The ways we talk to other medical professionals within a care team are crucial. We are (most often) all doing hard work, have our own scope of practice, and should not let exhaustion or burn out affect how we communicate to another human being. Proofread emails, always be respectful, and give people the benefit of the doubt.
6. Pediatric PT takes a lot of flexibility, creativity, and adaptability to treat each individual kid with their differing physical abilities, interests, cognitive abilities, and not to mention managing different types of parents in the room.
#physicaltherapy #pediatricphysicaltherapy #clinicalrotation
Realized I was avoiding a handful of exercises in the gym. The pattern? Single leg work and core exercises. The result? Weak stabilizing muscles and a strength imbalance in my legs. It really showed up for me at an Athletic Reformer Pilates class last week where I struggled hard.
I love to challenge myself so I thought why not make a list of all the exercises I’d rather not do and do a workout with just those? Set a 5 minute timer for each. No pressure. Do what I can. Just show up and face what I’ve been avoiding. Because that’s where I am weak. And I think we could apply that to a lot of areas in our lives 😉💋
A nice break from the single digit weather and celebrating Rowan turning 5. He came into our lives at the right time and gave our family something to celebrate in the midst of losing my dad. These kids are the 3 reasons I love being an aunt ♥️♥️♥️
