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Children's Physiotherapy

What does a Children's Physiotherapist do?

Physiotherapists provide targeted specialist assessment and treatment interventions for babies, children and young people from birth to 16 years of age (and sometimes up to 19 years). The service aims to assist children to achieve their maximum physical and functional potential.

Physiotherapy at Pavilion House

At Pavilion House our team of experienced staff carry out assessments, provide advice, develop therapy programmes and carry out a range of interventions for children ages 0-16 years (and in some cases up to 19 years) with musculoskeletal, neurological and complex conditions and syndromes. These are adapted with the child in mind to help develop their functional skills and abilities, working in conjunction with the child and family to set agreed joint, realistic goals to help maximise their potential and inclusion, integration and participation in everyday life.

Therapy can take place in clinic at Pavilion House, homes, nurseries and schools, both mainstream and our local Special school Park Lane.

We run a weekly orthotic clinic at Pavilion House on Thursdays. This clinic is staffed by an Orthotist and Paediatric Physiotherapist, who assess, advise and prescribe where necessary.

For more information regarding our Orthotic clinic please refer to The Orthotic Clinic leaflet.

All referrals must be made through the child’s GP, Paediatrician, Health Visitor or another Therapist. We do not accept referrals from school directly. The referrer will complete a referral form and letter providing relevant medical information and reason for referral. This helps the clinician decide what type of assessment is required and where best to assess them. All referrals should be sent to the booking centre (find address at the top of the referral form). 

Please note that the child’s GP must fall in the East Cheshire footprint before it will be accepted.

Children's physiotherapy referral criteria

Children's physiotherapy referral form

Gait Anomalies leaflet

Young people with long-term conditions may remain under Paediatric Physiotherapy for a number of years. Their needs may continue into adulthood, we appreciate this transition can be an anxious time and we aim to make this transition into adult services as easy as possible.

We use the Ready Steady Go format to aid this process, which allows the parents and child to be involved  every step of the way, please see the questionnaires below:

For more information, please speak to your child's Physiotherapist who can help with this process.

Where will my child be seen by a Physiotherapist?

Appointments made through the Booking centre will be booked into our clinic at Pavilion House, Macclesfield.

With more complex referrals a member of the therapy team will be in touch and will arrange an appointment in the most suitable venue, this may be in clinic, at home or at school or nursery if appropriate.

What will happen at the first appointment?   

You will meet the Physiotherapist who will be assessing your child/young person, where we will take consent.

We will then take a history of the difficulties your child is having and complete an assessment accordingly

Once the assessment has been completed, we will discuss and jointly set agreed, realistic goals with you and your child to work towards

Then we will discuss any areas that Physiotherapy may help, this may in the form of advice, a home therapy programme, advice on attending a therapy group or activities/equipment to promote posture alignment and function or it may be that Physiotherapy is not indicated and we will try to point you in the right direction if applicable.

What if English is not my first language?

Please let us know as soon as possible before your appointment and we can arrange an interpreter, alternatively you can choose to bring a family member to interpret for you.    

When will my child be discharged from the Physiotherapy service?

Your child will be discharged from the service when they have achieved their goals or have activities in place to help support their long-term needs.

Also, If you fail to attend your appointment, or cancel 2 consecutive appointments (unless for illness) your child will be discharged from the service as per our DNA policy.

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