As a pediatric physical therapist, intensive physical therapy has changed my practice. It has allowed me to help children reach goals that might have been otherwise unattainable with more traditional forms of physical therapy. I have seen intensive therapy help children who have plateaued with their current forms of PT finally push past their limits and achieve their seemingly “unreachable” goals. I’ve also seen just a few short weeks of intensive therapy help a child unlock new skills that would have otherwise taken them several months of ongoing traditional therapy to achieve! 

This intensive style therapy, commonly referred to in literature as the “intensive model of therapy” (IMOT), is becoming increasingly more popular throughout the world as more patients, families, therapists and various medical practitioners recognize its many benefits and outstanding results. In my personal opinion, it should be the gold standard of pediatric physical therapy for children with neurologic and developmental disorders causing movement and mobility restrictions. Having said that, a child does not need to have a medical diagnosis to qualify for intensive physical therapy as these programs are individualized and customized to meet each child's specific needs and their family’s goals.

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the IMOT. Children who participate in these intensive programs are exposed to hundreds of repetitions of specific functional exercises or developmental skills over a very short amount of time. This allows synapses in the brain to not only become stronger (or reorganize), but also for new pathways to develop altogether. This might grant the child the ability to master a skill or accomplish a new task in shorter amounts of time because of the increased frequency and intensity of interventions, otherwise difficult to achieve through traditional therapies. 

A few highlights regarding pediatric physical therapy intensives:

Indications for a Physical Therapy Intensive:

1. Your child has reached a plateau with traditional physical therapy

2. You completed another intervention (such as surgery to address orthopedic and/or neurological complications, botox injections, serial casting, stem cell therapy) and changes to motor function are expected. Or, post intervention, a potential for motor gains is probable and you want to capitalize or unlock  new potential

3. You want to target a specific goal or skill

Benefits of Physical Therapy Intensives:

1. Accelerated Progress- gains are achieved in a shorter window of time

2. Increased potential- more (and faster) progress made when compared to traditional PT

3. Ability for your child to develop quicker rapport and stronger trust with their therapist

4. Increased duration allows your therapist to really delve into the nitty gritty of your child's movement patterns and spend time addressing each component of their impairment or limitation

5. Individualized programs catering to your child's specific needs/ challenges

   
   

In my opinion, traditional weekly outpatient physical therapy is  not comparable to the IMOT when it comes to effecting change in children with neurological and developmental conditions. These children need a change to restart their gross motor journeys and intensives offer just that! Please understand that I am not saying standard weekly physical therapy is not beneficial. Because I am not. There are plenty of instances where this type of traditional pediatric physical therapy can be beneficial and is absolutely necessary!

The world of pediatric therapy care for children with neurological and developmental conditions is changing, and we are seeing a shift from a more traditional model of 1x/week therapy to programs built around the IMOT. 

If you want to know whether your child is a candidate for intensives, I recommend discussing it with a pediatric physical therapist. You can also learn more about our unique intensive pediatric physical therapy program by clicking here.

by Dr. April Vogel, PT, DPT