Physiotherapy helps to restore movement and function following injury or surgery, relieve pain and help prevent or limit physical disabilities and improve motor development. By using a number of different approaches and techniques, a physiotherapist can help a child overcome an injury, rehabilitate following surgery or short term health problems or help manage long term disability. Movement and function can often be impaired by physical limitations that may be the result of birth injuries and complications, accidents or illness. Improving a child’s ability to complete the smallest or simplest of tasks, such as sitting upright or holding a cup, can significantly change the level of interaction that is attainable within the family unit.
A survey conducted by Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in 2016 found there are only 216 practicing physiotherapists in Uganda, and services are poorly distributed across the country with only 32% of districts having any rehabilitation therapists or community-based services. Additionally, 76% of rehabilitation services are available in the 6 major urban centres, while 84% of the population are rural dwelling with high levels of poverty, making services unaffordable and unreachable.
Our team of skilled physiotherapists are highly experienced in assessing and treating babies, children and young people with a wide range of injuries and disabilities including but not limited to; cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome, acquired brain injury and developmental delay. This includes excersises and stretches, play and positioning, to increase movement and function in able to achieve mobility such as sitting, standing and walking.
Sometimes the children we see have such severe disabilities, or have been without appropriate care for so long, that the slightest movement can be painful or even physically impossible under the constraints of gravity. The use of a heated hydrotherapy pool can greatly reduce these discomforts by minimising the effects of gravity, allowing children to float in a warm and joint-friendly environment and achieve greater freedom and movement. At KCDC we are lucky enough to have our own hydrotherapy pool which we integrate into as many of our therapies as possible.