Inpatient and Outpatient Services

The Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Physical Therapy service helps your child return to his or her prior level of function or maximize rehabilitation potential. Our services are available to children who stay overnight in the hospital (inpatients) or in a clinic setting (outpatient).
 
 

New Outpatient Appointments

To schedule a new patient appointment for your child, we require a referral from your child’s health care provider. Your child’s insurance plan may require an authorization.
 
Your child’s health care provider should complete a referral form (PDF) and fax it to (650) 721-2884. After we receive the form, we will call you to schedule an appointment.
 
Once your child's appointment is scheduled, please complete a New Patient form (English / Spanish (PDF) ). Please bring the completed form to your child's first physical therapy appointment.
 
 

Physical Therapy Treatments

We use a number of treatments in your child’s physical therapy. These include, but are not limited to:

• Exercises and/or functional activities to increase muscle strength
• Neuromuscular re-education – Use of a variety of sensorimotor therapeutic techniques to restore normal movement
• Endurance training to increase heart-lung (cardiopulmonary) fitness
• Gait and transfer training to improve age-appropriate mobility
• Balance training to improve standing, walking and sitting balance
• Positioning and splinting to preserve musculoskeletal integrity and optimize function
• Patient and family training to maximize progress toward goals
• Biofeedback – Visual, auditory and/or physical feedback to address pain, anxiety, stress and movement issues
• Scar management to restore skin health after surgery or other trauma
• Developmental strengthening activities to help infants and young children reach developmental milestones
• Graded sensory stimulation – Controlled sensory stimulation to help infants be more alert or calm

 

Patients We Treat

We work with patients with a wide range of conditions. We treat children with the conditions listed below at Packard Children’s Hospital and at our Middlefield Road clinic, unless otherwise noted.
 

Medical-Surgical Solid organ transplantationTrauma Multi-system disease Diminished strength and endurance (deconditioning)   Oncology Leukemia Bone cancer Brain tumor Bone marrow transplant   Chronic pain Complex regional pain syndrome Abdominal pain Chronic pain   Obesity Obesity Diminished strength and endurance (deconditioning)

Cardiovascular Complex congenital heart disease Congenital heart disorders Heart transplant Heart-lung transplant Heart failure   Neonatal care and infant development Inpatients are seen at Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, the Special Care Nursery at Sequoia Hospital and the Special Care Nursery at Washington Hospital. Developmental intervention is offered at our outpatient facility on Middlefield Road. Premature infant Infant at risk for developmental, behavioral or medical problems Metabolic disease Stroke Genetic disease Developmental delay Torticollis

 

Physical Therapy in Other Packard Children’s Hospital Clinics

We are active participants in the following clinics:

• Center for Down Syndrome
• Dermatology / Epidermolysis Bullosa Clinic
• Developmental and Behavioral Unit (also offered at Dominican Hospital Santa Cruz)
• Hemophilia Clinic
• Muscular Dystrophy Clinic
• Pain Clinic
• Rheumatology Clinic