Paediatric Assessment and Treatment
Physical Health Care From Birth To Adulthood
It is a common saying within Osteopathy that:
“As the twig is bent so grows the tree”
At BOC we are experienced with assessment and treatment of children both in terms of their structural development and neurological development.
Some of the common things that we look at are:
- Structural development
- structural symmetry, (hip and pelvis symmetry, shoulder and neck symmetry)
- Postural Development
- spinal control, head control and eye control
- weight distribution on feet
- Early development of postural reflexes. (head control, rolling, sitting, crawling and walking).
- Neurological Development
- motor planning (the ability to plan and execute movement efficiently,
- motor learning (the ability to respond effectively to new tasks, and postural challenges).
- Balance, coordination
- Gait (walking and running)
- visual attention (concentration),
- Sensory discrimination and interpretation (the ability to discern and interpret different tactile sensations.
- Gross motor and fine motor control.
When we are assessing child development, we look at their body as a vehicle for their self-expression rather than in terms of ‘a problem’. So although we take a systematic approach in assessing structural development and milestones, we ask the question, ‘how can we improve this child’s body as a vehicle for them to express themselves fully and to the best of their ability in their future lives’ .
So during the initial assessment we go through this in some detail, both in terms of what we can observe and what we can measure, and then we develop a treatment and exercise program with you with measurable goals. This is important, because parents need to understand the reasons why they have chosen to do a program so that they are motivated to follow it through with their child both at home and in our sessions.
We have programs for common neonatal complaints such as colic, poor settling and provide a free assessment up to 3 months for assessment of head and neck following the birth process.
We recommend 6 monthly checkups during childhood to ensure that, especially important, is age 10-11 so that we can address any growth and development problems before the secondary growth phase at 12-13. After this time it is much more difficult to make permanent change.
We assess and manage growth and development through your child’s developmental years in terms of their structural alignment, posture, balance, coordination and fitness.
We have programs for common neonatal complaints such as colic, poor settling and provide a free assessment up to 3 months for assessment of head and neck following the birth process.
More information on our growth and development programs, is available here
Please check out our New Patient Special Offer here, or call us on 02 9913 7900.
Childhood Development and Co-ordination Programs.
We provide a FREE neonatal assessment up to 3 months of age screening specifically for head and neck strain associated with the birth process. This is typically not part of a standard hospital paediatric assessment and we therefore provide it as a community service.
Free Baby Assessment
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