When she was in physical therapy school, Melisa Smith, PT, DPT, was certain she’d specialize in orthopedic physical therapy and help school-aged athletes and weekend warriors recover from their sports-related injuries. All that changed after she had the chance to treat children with neurological conditions during her pediatric rotation.
While physical therapists must possess the wide base of knowledge to specialize in multiple areas, Dr. Smith fell in love with the challenge and the immense rewards of treating little kids with big mobility problems.
“I am passionate about physical therapy, but nothing compares to the pleasure of being a PT that gets to work with children,” says Dr. Smith, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at PCOM Georgia in Suwanee, Georgia, since 2019.
Pediatric physical therapy is a specialized area of physical therapy that focuses on improving the motor skills, strength, balance, endurance, and coordination of infants, children, adolescents and young adults up to 21 years of age. Pediatric PTs treat all the same things that regular physical therapists treat—only in a smaller, still-developing body. Pediatric PT patients can have any type of movement disorder, developmental delay, or orthopedic condition.
“I stress to my students that pediatric PTs must be proficient in neurology, orthopedics, and developmental delays in addition to being a highly skilled physical therapy practitioner with endless amounts of patience, compassion, and creativity,” says Dr. Smith.
PTs engage kids with enjoyable, age-appropriate games and activities to keep them motivated and happy. Sessions should look and feel like play—running and hopping around to improve coordination, playing on large exercise balls to build strength, standing on a balance beam or on one foot for stability—but physical therapy can be hard work ... for both the therapist (growth plates and growth spurts make treating kids especially challenging, says Dr. Smith) and the patient.
“You can’t tell a 2-year-old who has a 3-second attention span to do 10 straight leg raises to strengthen a particular muscle as you would an adult,” says Dr. Smith.
Instead, you’ll have to get creative and come up with a play activity that will get the child to simulate the intended movement. One of Dr. Smith’s favorites: Blowing bubbles and challenging the child to pop them by kicking her legs straight up in the air.
Fun and games aside, outcomes matter in PT, says Dr. Smith—regardless of whether you’re working on motor skills, strength, or balance. If that means coming up with 50 different games in a 30-minute session, so be it.
The best thing about pediatric PT? Working with kids, who put a smile on your face and keep you on your toes with the things they say and do, says Dr. Smith.
“Often, when adults are in pain, they will be vocal and complain. Children can be in 10 times more pain than you and I, but if they’re engaged and having fun during the therapy, your sessions with them won’t at all seem like work,” says Dr. Smith.
Many of Dr. Smith’s colleagues might disagree with her, but she thinks children are easier to work with than adults. “As long as you engage kids, they’re going to engage right back,” says Dr. Smith. “They won’t just sit down and say, ‘That hurts, I’m not doing it.’ They’ll really put their all into the therapy session.”
According to Smith, Pediatric PTs make a huge impact not just on the child’s life,
but on the family’s, too.
“If you can help a patient with cerebral palsy or a traumatic brain injury feed herself
or get out of bed by herself,” says Dr. Smith, “you’ll improve the quality of life
for mom, dad, brother, and sister as well as for the patient.”
PCOM Georgia’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program is designed to be completed in three years (12 terms, four terms each year). Program requirements include coursework and full-time clinical experience (integrated and terminal).
Students at PCOM’s Suwanee, Georgia, location train under the guidance of expert faculty in a modern, 12,000-square-foot Physical Therapy Education Center, which features state-of-the-art equipment, as well as laboratories, classrooms and study spaces.
First-semester classes include anatomy, kinesiology, and medical terminology. Students go on three clinical rotations during their second and third years: one outpatient rotation, one inpatient, and the third specialty-based. The rotations are hands-on learning where students put all of their didactic knowledge to work and get their hands on the patients.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects job openings for physical therapists will grow much faster than average through 2031. Job growth in Georgia (2020-2030) is predicted to be 33 percent, according to labor market projections. Around 470 positions for qualified physical therapists will be open annually in Georgia during this period.
There’s a high demand for pediatric physical therapists in many settings: hospitals, outpatient, long-term rehab, wound care, burn care, school-based PT, and early intervention.
“Most of our DPT grads have already either accepted jobs or have multiple offers awaiting their decision,” says Dr. Smith. “PT is a great career.”
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