Therapy Garments

Why Therapy Garments for children?

By Katie Cleary – Senior Paediatric Physiotherapist & Director of Ocean Kids Health.

Therapy garments are wearable items that provide your child’s body with external sensory input to help them to improve their body awareness, posture, stability and movement!

There are three key reasons we love to use therapy garments with our clients in our clinics:

1. For babies and young children with developmental delays and
   significantly low muscle tone Therapy garments provide stability around
   babies torso and shoulder girdle, which helps them to lift their head to develop strength and movements in various positions. We love using our mini SPIO vests and Theratogs WUNZI suits!
2. For children seeking excessive movement – Often they are needing
   proprioceptive (pressure) input which is provided by the garment. The pressure assists to calm the childs movement seeking whilst providing increased body awareness, which subsequently improves attention and participation.
3. For children with postural support needs – Both SPIO and TheraTogs
   garments assist children to improve their alignment against gravity, which helps their muscles to work more efficiently! Theratogs are really great to use as Physiotherapists, we find them to be like another pair of hands we can use to help children achieve better postural alignment to enhance their movements.

We love trialling various garments with your children to identify the right type for them, as we all have different needs!

At Ocean Kids Health, we are the Victorian supplier of TheraTogs and SPIO
garments.

Why?

Both these American brands are really effective in helping your child with their
alignment and movement. After many years of trialling and testing various garments, we have found what works and have a full supply of garments in stock
at our clinics to trial with your child to identify the right product for them, which is part of our service. We also work with our colleagues at Korthotics and Second Skin to prescribe customised garments for children with additional support needs.

We often use therapy garments within our weekly sessions and we particularly
love utilising our garments as part of our Intensive Therapy Programs e.g. TheraSuits to maximise results in a short timeframe! To see a wearable orthotic garment in action (Theratogs) click here vimeo.com/405866702

What are the main types of therapy garments available and appropriate
for children?

DMO Suit Information
DMO suits are specialised, customised garments that need to be prescribed by a skilled Physiotherapist at Ocean Kids Health or your Occupational Therapist.

Second Skin Information:
Second Skin suits are specialised, customised garments that need to be prescribed by a skilled Physiotherapist at Ocean Kids Health or your Occupational Therapist.

TheraSuit information:
TheraSuit is a specialised garment which is used as a therapy tool within our Intensive Therapy Programs at Ocean Kids Health.

Would Your Child Benefit From A Therapy Garment?

If your baby or child has developmental delays or a condition affecting their ability to move, they may benefit from trialling and wearing an appropriate Therapy Garment! We commonly trial garments for children with:

Our Favourites that are on trial at our Clinics

TheraTogs are lightweight, comfortable, easy to care for therapy garments for children with postural issues, reduced stability and delayed motor skills.

Theratogs are ‘wearable therapy’ orthotics which give your child 8-10 hours of
therapeutic benefit each day!

How do TheraTogs work?
Your physiotherapist can correct postural or biomechanical issues for your child through the application of TheraTogs. Adjusting the TheraTogs straps, causes an alteration in posture and body alignment. This improves midline orientation and muscle tone, to help your child be more stable or move! Your child wears their TheraTogs under their clothing during the day. This helps to improve their posture and normalize muscle activation.

When your child is moving, sitting, standing or walking, their body will experience a greater alignment and improved stability. By doing repetitive and everyday tasks in their TheraTogs, your child will experience a faster improvement in their function.

As your child’s function improves, there are additional TheraTogs straps and adjustments that can be applied by your therapist to further enhance alignment, posture and function.

For more information and evidence about TheraTogs, Click Here.

“The most basic human response to gravity is to strive to achieve and maintain
the upright position. Weakness of the core musculature compromises that effort, produces muscle imbalances, and can interfere with limb function by recruiting limb muscles for balance.” Beverly Cusick, PT, MS, TheraTogs inventor, USA

What are SPIO products?

Stabilizing Pressure Input Orthoses or SPIO are wearable therapy garments designed for children with postural and sensory issues affecting their motor skills. SPIO are orthotic compression garments that children wear during the day. They are lightweight, comfortable, easy to use and easy to wash.

How do SPIO products work?
SPIO garments provide deep pressure ‘proprioception’ into your child’s body through the compressive force of the fabric. This ‘proprioception’ provides feedback from their joints, back into the central nervous system, which adjusts their motor output, meaning they will have improved muscle activation, better alignment and posture for functional tasks and play.

Another benefit of SPIO is that through this central compression, we often see an improvement in the ability to sit still and focus, which enables children to improve their function and learning opportunities such as reading, listening, fine motor skills and play.

Who does SPIO benefit?
The SPIO garments are beneficial for babies and children who exhibit a primary or secondary sensory deficit, which impairs their stability and affects their posture.

At Ocean Kids, our Therapy Garment prescription process includes:

• An Initial Assessment including taking videos and completing movement and posture analysis
• In clinic trial of various orthotic garments.
• Ongoing review for correct sizing, assessment of function and re-fitting as posture changes.

Please contact our wonderful admin team if you would like to trial a Therapy Garment at Ocean Kids Health with our therapy team to identify the right option for your child!