What the heck is my body doing?


Lifestages—birth to 20

Let me start by being very clear—when it comes to physical therapy—there are pediatric specialists that treat developmental delays and specialize in pediatrics—we can refer you to them if needed. What I am referring to here is the “healthy” child in a growth spurt or transition.

Our specialty is releasing the soft tissue to allow for us to stand, move, and be active, all while our body is in perfect alignment—we are designed to be that way, and things just work better when we are aligned. We tend to have more energy for fun things, rather than just keeping our posture in line and tend to be injured less when our body is in balance.

Do you have a child going through a growth spurt? Do you remember growing?? I just happen to be 6’2”, but I was 5’9” as a freshman in high school—basically I was a really good kid, because I was tired, and sore most of my high school years. We never really stretched, or did anything about it, basically because we did not know any better (we also did not have a trainer, and this was wayyyyy before the era of club sports and year round activity).

Have you seen your amazing child athelete suddenly become clumsy, tired, or complaining of more pain? You know they are growing, but you also don’t know how to help them (totally frustrating part of the process!!). It’s hard to just say “they are clumsy” or “she will grow out of that” when you know they are really talented, and that’s not really the way they are.

This is a totally cute pic of my husband and his sister—I could just use stock images, but I think it’s much more fun to see “kids “ of any age!


Maybe they are a dancer, and all the kicks and splits are to the right side—basically a repititve motion in one direction over and over, combined with the fact that the female pelvis (supposed to be a pillar of stability in posture) is designed to move and is affected by hormones—so now it looks like one leg is longer than the other.

Basically, there are as many examples as there are children out there. The take home message is there is something you can do!

The young body is very pliable—it responds very well to body work, and often does not take many visits. This comes in very handy when dealing with growth spurts, injuries, back pain, or just “not being able to stay focused or in the zone”.

The super fun part of this, is that kids know how to feel. They have a great filter of who/what is safe and basically just shut their eyes and the body is responding to deep, cellular changes (us super smart adults have somewhat forgotten this, and it takes minutes/hours/days to remember how to relax). They are not going to just lie on a table for an hour, so sometimes siblings share an hour session, or we break it up with running/jumping/using the muscles we just relaxed to help them know how they are supposed to be.

Kids are very busy and have tough schedules these days. We would love to be a resource and be the option when you know something is “off” with your child.

We are here to answer your questions and be a resource. We offer free phone or in-house 20 min “ease your worry session” that you can ask us all of your questions while checking us out. You get to see if we are a good fit for what you need.

Mind body spirit—it’s all connected, and when the physical body is in alignment, it makes everything else a bit easier.

Stay tuned for next week’s blog geared toward women in the 20-45 age range of childbirth age….

Brenda Bryson, PT, MPT, LMT