12 Effective Tips to Teach Your Child to Dress Themselves Dressing skills are a vital part of child development. Not only does learning to dress themselves help support children’s growing independence, but it also promotes the development of many other valuable skills including, but not limited to sequencing, motor coordination, balance, bilateral coordination, dexterity, attention,…
11 Practical Water Safety Tips for Kids It is about that time of year again when the temperatures outside are blazing hot in Arizona! In Arizona, this is the time of year temperatures begin to blaze and many families “escape the heat” by engaging in water play or swimming activities in pools, lakes, or local…
Benefits of Cardio Fitness for Children with Cerebral Palsy by Danielle Burke, PT, DPT Kids Place West Doctor of Physical Therapy Cerebral palsy is a complex neurological disorder affecting approximately 1.5 to 3.8 children per 1,000 births. Children diagnosed with cerebral palsy often present with developmental delays as a result of muscle weakness, impaired balance,…
Tips for Helping Your Child Tie Shoes How can you teach your child to tie shoes? Tying shoes is a complex self-care tasks that requires adequate visual motor skills, fine motor-coordination, task sequencing, and motor planning. Most kids learn to tie their shoes around age 6, but this can take longer due to the complexity…
Common Misperceptions About Physical Therapy By: Brooke Smith, DPT AzOPT Goodyear Clinic Manager Should you do physical therapy? There are many common misperceptions about what physical therapy entails. Let’s discuss a few common misperceptions and explain how physical therapy can help you get back to the activities you love, without pain! Myth #1: Physical therapy…
Using the Pool for Exercise during the Summer Are you wondering how you can use the pool for exercise this summer? One of the benefits of living in AZ in the summer, other than sweating off ten pounds of water weight, is our access to swimming pools and other forms of water activity to keep…
What are some strategies to improve my child’s language skills? Kids Place Pediatrics Therapy celebrates Better Hearing and Speech Month. Check out this video from Lauryn, Stephanie, and Paige, Speech Therapists at Kids Place Central, to learn more about how you can improve your child’s receptive and expressive language skills at home. For more information,…
The Benefits to Heart Rate Training for Runners by Tyler Guymon, DPT AzOPT Buckeye Clinic Manager Over the years, my wife and I have turned to running for the majority of our physical fitness. We enjoy the simplicity of running. You really only need a decent pair of running shoes and you are ready to…
Dynamic Warm Up Exercises for Overhead Athletes Overhead Athletes Injury Prevention Athletes who perform repetitive movements overhead, such as softball and baseball players, are at a slightly higher risk of injuries to the shoulders and/or elbows. Injuries may include labral tears, rotator cuff injuries, and lateral epicondylitis, to name a few. A proper warm up…
April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month Parkinson’s disease is a progressive, degenerative neurologic disease that affects the brain’s ability to produce specific chemicals that allow normal, smooth movement and motor planning. It affects approximately 50,000 people in the United States every year with about 1 million people currently affected. The average age of onset for…
