140 E Main St, Carmel, IN 46032
Physical Therapy at K1ds Count Therapy in Carmel is tailored to meet your child’s unique needs. Our pediatric physical therapy services focus on helping children build strength, coordination, and confidence so they can participate fully at home, school, and in the community.
We care for children of all ages, from infants recently discharged from the NICU to teenage athletes working toward peak performance. Through play-based, evidence-driven interventions, our physical therapists help improve motor skills, movement coordination, and functional independence, all while fostering opportunities for social interaction and peer engagement.
Our pediatric physical therapy in Carmel begins with a thorough evaluation to assess your child’s strength, mobility, balance, and overall motor development. After that, our PTs create an individualized plan of care that includes targeted treatment sessions, regular progress re-assessments, and discharge planning once goals are achieved.
Collaboration is key at K1ds Count Therapy, our physical therapists work closely with parents and caregivers, providing updates, guidance for home exercises, and strategies to support skill development outside of the clinic. They also coordinate with other KC Therapy professionals across disciplines to ensure your child receives comprehensive, well-rounded care. We are proud to provide expert pediatric physical therapy to children and families in Carmel and surrounding communities.
Based on age, there are milestones for tasks related to mobility a child should meet within a certain timeframe. In infants, mobility focuses on developmental milestones including rolling, crawling, and walking. Mobility in older children focuses to tasks such as stair navigation, environmental navigation, walking and running speed and form, and accessibility of various environments. Your KCT PT will assist in identifying what should be addressed with regards to mobility tasks across treatment sessions. In addition, PTs can help determine and obtain the appropriate assistive devices including walkers, gait trainers, standers etc. based on your child’s abilities.
Balance refers to maintaining a state of equilibrium during static and dynamic tasks. Balance incorporates the cohesiveness of three of our sensory systems – vision, somatosensory, and vestibular. Your balance system helps you stand, walk, turn, and move throughout your environment without falling. Your KCT PT can help identify the reason for impaired balance skills and provide appropriate intervention strategies or referrals to address these concerns.
Physical therapists often look at a child’s functional strength to determine areas of improvement. In infants, a baby’s ability to maintain a specific developmental position or transition through multiple positions can provide information areas of weakness. In older children, the way a child sits on the floor, transitions to standing, climbs up and down stairs, walks, and runs can provide insight on their movement patterns and potential strength deficits. Asymmetrical strength, when a child uses one arm/leg more often than the other, can also provide direction for strengthening interventions.
Flexibility and range of motion of our joints play a vital role in allowing our bodies to move through space with proper movement patterns. There are normal ranges for each joint of the body which varies by age. Common range of motion deficits in children can include tight ankles, hamstrings, and hips which can lead children to use compensatory movement strategies and delay their ability to achieve big milestones including crawling, jumping, and stair climbing. Your KCT PT can assess a child’s range of motion and address it through various intervention strategies.
Gross motor skills are abilities that let our bodies perform tasks which involve large muscle groups including our trunk, legs, and arms. These are whole-body movements kids utilize every day when they walk, run, and jump. Gross motor skills combine other body function elements including balance, coordination, strength, and body awareness. Depending on age, there are specific age ranges for achieving skills including crawling, walking, running and jumping. Your KCT PT can identify delays in a child’s ability to perform age-appropriate gross motor skills and provide skilled intervention to help progress toward those skills.
Whether it be pain associated with an injury or chronic pain, PTs have training in interventions associated with reducing pain levels. Pain can be complex biologically, psychologically, and socially and requires individualized treatment. PTs work closely with other disciplines to help children understand and treat their pain to help restore and maximize their quality of life. KCT PTs have a toolbox of training that can help reduce pain through movement, manual therapy, evidence-based modalities, and family education.
Gait training aims to help a child establish or restore a normal walking pattern, with or without an assistive device. Our PTs can meet the child at their level, whether they are still learning to walk independently or need to regain a normal walking pattern after an injury or surgery. Our Carmel location has a LiteGait device onsite in which our PTs utilize during gait training to allow simultaneous control of weight bearing, posture, and balance while walking.
PTs are experts in movement and movement patterns and can identify the need for an orthotic, custom or off the shelf, to help improve a child’s mobility, balance, and gait pattern. PTs work closely with physicians and certified orthotists to provide the device which will enhance and maximize a child’s independent movement patterns. In addition, PTs collaborate with prosthetists in the fitting of prosthetic devices and provide gait, balance, and strength training to help promote independent mobility.
Good posture allows your body to stand, walk, sit and lie down in the most efficient manner. Deficits in posture can cause increased strain on your ligaments and muscles while moving or performing weight-bearing activities, resulting in the potential for musculoskeletal pain in and around surrounding joints down the road. Your KCT is trained in postural assessment and can help determine the appropriate exercises and/or orthotics needed to improve posture and efficiency with movement.
Our physical therapists participate in state licensure-required continuing education opportunities to ensure assessment and intervention practices mimic current evidence-based research. Each therapist is provided with a K1ds Count Therapy annual CEU stipend to promote clinical and professional growth. Our PTs participate in regular in-service learning opportunities together to provide the most current intervention strategies based on evidence-based research.
Pediatric physical therapy focuses on helping children improve movement, strength, balance, and coordination. Children with motor delays, mobility challenges, or difficulty participating in everyday activities can benefit from therapy.
If your child struggles with walking, running, climbing stairs, balance, or meeting motor milestones, an evaluation by a pediatric physical therapist can identify areas where therapy may help.
Pediatric physical therapists address conditions such as delayed gross motor development, muscle weakness, coordination difficulties, orthopedic injuries, neurological disorders, posture or gait problems, and balance challenges.
The initial session includes a thorough assessment of your child’s movement, strength, balance, and functional abilities. The therapist will discuss goals, outline a personalized plan of care, and may begin targeted activities to evaluate your child’s abilities.
Sessions usually last 45–60 minutes. The frequency and total number of sessions depend on your child’s specific needs and progress. Plans are regularly updated to ensure therapy is effective.
Physical therapy focuses on gross motor skills like walking, running, balance, and mobility. Occupational therapy emphasizes fine motor skills, daily living activities, and sensory integration to support independence in everyday tasks.
Yes. Pediatric physical therapy supports the development of strength, coordination, and motor patterns needed for milestones such as crawling, standing, walking, and running safely and confidently.
Most insurance plans provide coverage for pediatric physical therapy when it is medically necessary. Our team at K1ds Count Therapy can help families verify benefits, explain coverage, and navigate insurance questions before starting therapy.
