Stretching

[marticlar]

Hi,

I was wondering whether there is any difference in the duration and repetitions of stretches in paediatric patients as opposed to adult patients.

If yes, can anyone tell me the difference please?

Thanks

[estherderu]

dear Marticlar,

Are you a colleague, another health professional, parent or patient?
Could you be a bit more specific about why you want to stretch and about what you would like to stretch, in which circumstances you would like to stretch.
For example: children with ROM loss after a fracture heal by themselves in time and nearly never need help stretching. So please be a bit more specific.
kind regards
Esther de Ru

[marticlar]

I am a physiotherapy student.

I was wondering about stretching in general in children, and also for infants with torticollis

[marticlar]

Can any one post a reply please? shouldn't be too diffidult to answer!!

[estherderu]

dear marticlar....

I am afraid you will have to do a lot of reading....
for example read everything that RHH Engelbert has to say about generalized hypermobility and hypomobility. In Pubmed and via Google you can find a lot of articles about his work;
the work of KR FLowers about the effects of total and end range time on improving passive ROM;
LJ van der Giessen et al Validation of Beighton score and prevalance of connective tissue signs in 773 Dutch children.

Personally, I never actively stretch babies and young children´s muscles..... I try to enhance the child to look the other way ( example in torticollis) and then hold his/her head in that position for as long as the infant likes it. If this is done repeatively (parents) the child gets used to it, accepts it, and you will never hurt the child. I have seen passive stretching advocated by my colleagues.... but I am a firm believer in doing it in the most pleasant way possible. All the pics I have seen of this treatment the infant is crying or otherwise upset.

Look up the guidelines for treating Cerebral Palsy.....
Your question is a very good one, with many answers possible....
We know that contractile tissue changes with age....... so at what age do we stretch for how long??

I would advise you always do a good assessment first, then make some goals and try to work as functionally as possible. We ( in Holland) have been trained to make our own physiotherapeutic diagnosis first... that makes making goals a lot easier.
A medical diagnosis does not very often give us much to go on.
In the countries with free accees, assessing and chosing the right therapy is one of the most challanging parts of our work.


Good luck


Esther de Ru
www.estherderu.com

[junior_physiotherapist]

Yes your question is interesting!

Generally, I know to hold stretching technique for 10 seconds in adults,6 seconds in elderly people

If you would do releaseing during stretching thats not a streching ,you should sustain your streching technique for a while.