When it comes to infant physical therapy, there's a lot for parents to understand, and the entire process can be pretty overwhelming. This is especially true considering how often learning about physical therapy options and needs comes at the same time when you need to deal with the upsetting and emotionally exhausting news that comes with you having to deal with your newborn child being hurt, as well as at the same time when you’ll be exploring the legal ramifications of that situation.
Conditions Requiring Infant Physical Therapy
There are many different conditions that might call for infant physical therapy. There is a wide array of birth defects that could result in an infant child needing this type of therapy, as well as injuries resulting from medical malpractice. A large variety of different conditions will require physical therapy.
Whether the disorder is developmental, the result of an accident, or due to negligence, physical therapy focuses on the most important aspect in any case: helping to strengthen the muscles or body parts that just aren’t developing the way that they should be and pushing forward to help your child overcome as many limitations as possible, so that he or she is able to live a higher quality life by not suffering from physical restrictions.
Just a few of these conditions include:
- Cerebral Palsy
- Erb's Palsy
- Autism
- Brain trauma
- Spinal bifida
- And others
The Role of Infant Brain Damage in Physical Therapy
Sometimes the physical therapy isn't because the muscles themselves are damaged, but because of nerve damage or brain damage. When this happens, the rote repetition of certain exercises can help the muscles get used to working a certain way, and this can sometimes help to create a familiarity in the mind that allows the child to then continue to go forward with those movements.
Infant brain damage can result from a wide variety of different issues, and part of the recovery process has to start with actual physical therapy.
Widely Accepted Developmental Plans
How do you know if your child needs physical therapy help? The easiest way is by studying the widely accepted developmental charts that indicate at what general age an infant should be hitting certain milestones. Is your baby crawling about the time most babies crawl? Has he or she shown any signs of standing up or trying to walk? Are there any weird details that are hard to miss like not being able to move one arm, or a tendency to not register light changes or use peripheral vision?
This can help you figure out just what the issue might be, as well as how serious and long a physical therapy plan might be for helping your child to rehabilitate and recover.
Where Legal Issues Come into Play
Don't be fooled. Infant physical therapy can be extremely expensive. In fact, depending on the level and severity of the therapy that is needed, costs can come up to over a million dollars over a lifetime, and you may have to fight with an insurance company to get full or even partial coverage on that.
Any legal action due to a medical malpractice case needs to keep infant physical therapy in mind. This is especially true when you’re deciding on whether to take a deal or to push for actual damages by going through with the trial.
Infant physical therapy is just one of the many processes that are sometimes necessary to help your injured child take their limitations head on and fight to live as normal and unrestricted a life as possible. Let your lawyer handle the case so that you can focus on being supportive and being there for your child's journey.
