I was treating a girl as an outpatient who was starting to lose motivation and become sad, after attending physio sessions 3 times a week for over 6 months. I thought it would be beneficial and more exciting to integrate a hydrotherapy session into her program once a week. This idea went down very well with the child. During the first session of hydro, the girl was very excited because she hadn’t been swimming for over 9 months due to medical treatment. The child got a little carried away during the hydro session, constantly swimming away, doing tumble turns, putting her head under water etc. I found it hard to keep her under control and to get her to follow exercises.
I felt like my patient wasn’t getting a ‘true’ physio session as any exercise I tried to do with her she would do only a few reps then do her own thing. I let her get away with more than I usually would have because I knew the child was having so much fun in the water and I didn’t want to spoil it for her. How much should I let a child (who’s usually emotionally down) get her own way if she’s having so much fun? On reflection after the session, it felt that although she wasn’t following the exercises as well as planned, she enjoyed herself. This may just be enough to regain her enjoyment of physio. In future hydro sessions with this pt I will discuss a plan for the session and negotiate exercises/games. Hopefully, a good combination of effective treatment and fun will be achieved.
From the initial hydro session I have learnt it is not a waste of a treatment session if exercises do not go to plan when treating children. The benefits of the child being happy and feeling like a child again can benefit future physio sessions.
IN FUTURE, I WILL UNDERSTAND THAT INITIAL TREATMENT SESSIONS WITH A CHILD MAY NOT FEEL LIKE AN EFFECTIVE TREATMENT. ALLOWING AN INITIAL TREATMENT SESSION TO BE MORE ABOUT FUN AND LESS STRUCTURED IS APPROPRIATE AS IT ALLOWS RAPPORT TO BE BUILT AND THE CHILDS CONFIDENCE TO BE BOOSTED. HOWEVER, FUTURE SESSIONS WITH A CHILD SHOULD AIM FOR EFFECTIVE EXERCISES THROUGH NEGOTIATION AND EXPECTATIONS MET WITH THE CHILD PRIOR TO THE SESSION.
2 comments:
I too have found that you need to add variety to Physio to engage the pt back into the treatment sessions. I agree that you can have a few Physio sessions that may not be as productive as we would like but other social skills are being developed which may aid in future sessions. Well done Bec it looks like you work really well with kids!
Go bec! I completely agree. The child is also likely to have exercised more through their own frantic play than any physio could ever persuade them to through reps/sets... Don't know if exercise was the goal of the session, but like you said - the benefits would have outweighed any disadvantages anyway.
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