In this blog post I thought it would be nice to talk over an exciting new offering and service at ThreeSpires Physiotherapy - that of paediatric/children's physiotherapy and introduce our specialist paediatric physiotherapist Lisa Clapp. This is a very specialised form of physiotherapy that treats children of all ages from new born babies to young adults and can make a massive difference to children who are having difficulties. Paediatric physiotherapy can assist babies and toddlers who are not meeting developmental milestones such as sitting unaided, crawling and walking. Children with neurological conditions such as Cerebral Palsy will often need a large amount of physiotherapy to assist with moving, stretching out limbs and improving their quality of life.

We have recently been lucky enough to engage the services of a hugely experienced and talented paediatric physiotherapist - Lisa who will be treating any children who will be requiring physiotherapy. So I thought it might be helpful for people thinking about having physiotherapy for their child to know a little bit more about her experience, background, specialities and how she might be able to help.

Background:

Lisa received her degree in Physiotherapy from the University of Nottingham in 1996 is a chartered physiotherapist and is registered with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC).  For the first 6 years of her physiotherapy career she built up a large amount of experience in the NHS working in areas such as neurology, orthopaedics, elderly rehab, outpatients and respiratory medicine.

This has given her a fantastic depth and breadth of medical and physiotherapy knowledge upon which to call when treating patients. Eventually she decided that she wanted to specialise in what had always been her true passion in physiotherapy - paediatrics and began working as a senior specialist physiotherapist at the Child Development Centre in Walsall. 

Experience:

Lisa has a great range of experience in helping children of a wide range of ages with a variety of problems. Below are some of her specific areas of experience:

- Assessment and treatment of babies and children with a variety of developmental and neurological conditions. 

- Assessment for and provision of appropriate specialist equipment needed for children

- 24 hour postural management of babies and children / young adults

- Initiating and leading service for casting children who have received Botox injections

- Management of Physiotherapy intervention at a Special School (children with disabilities aged 11-19)

- Working in mainstream schools, special schools, nurseries and homes

- Liaising with Social Services, consultants, parents, teachers, wheelchair services and the multidisciplinary team

- Attending Child Protection meetings and monitoring child protection

- Educating teachers, parents, GPs and carers, in how to handle children safely

- Joint working and close liaison with all multidisciplinary team: Occupational Therapy, hospital staff, consultants, educational staff, social services, health transition team and other external agencies.

Conditions Treated:

Lisa has an incredibly wide range of experience in terms of conditions, syndromes and presentations of children and below is a general summary of her experience. If your child has a particular condition that is not on this list, please get in touch as it is highly likely that Lisa will be able to help.

• Delayed Gross Motor Development,
• Cerebral palsy (CP): Including but not limited to: diplegic CP, quadriplegic CP, hemiplegic CP ataxic CP, dystonic CP, Periventricular Leukomalacia.
• Spina bifida,
• Acquired brain injury,
• CVA,
• Muscular Dystrophy, Beckers Dystrophy, Limb Girdle dystrophy
• Genetic Hereditary Paraplegia,
• Syndromes affecting gross motor development, eg Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Edwards Syndrome, Friedricks Ataxia, Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease, microcephaly etc
• Developmental Coordination disorder poor balance and falls, including dyspraxia
• Biomechanical and positional complaints such as scoliosis, toe walking (idiopathic and hypertonic), Valgus knees, intoeing, severe over pronation, gait issues,
• Sacral agenesis and absent lumbar spines,
• Oncology,
• Post Meningitis / Amputees
• Weight Issues
• Achilles tendon tightness, habitual toe walking and contractures associated with autistic spectrum disorder
• Management of Musculoskeletal injuries / problems occurring throughout childhood development.
• Rehab following Orthopaedic Surgery.

 As you can see this an extensive list of conditions and experience that Lisa has and we are extremely fortunate to be able to have her as part of the team at ThreeSpires Physiotherapy! If you have any questions about paediatric physiotherapy or would like to book an appointment with Lisa then please get in touch on 0788 428 1623 or email us a enquiries@threespiresphysiotherapy.co.uk