Physiotherapy - Equipment

Equipment

As part of the physiotherapy provision, we will assess your child and if appropriate, we will prescribe different pieces of equipment based on their need. We may offer equipment to support your child with their standing or walking such as gaiters and standing frames, or to support a joint such as their ankles with splints.

The equipment will be regularly reviewed, either at home, in clinic, or in the child's education setting. The family or education staff will be trained on the correct use of the equipment.

All equipment provided remains the property of East London Foundation Trust but it will be the responsibility of the family/school staff to inform the physiotherapist of any adjustments or repairs that may be required.

Standing frames

Following their assessment, your child may be offered a standing frame. This provides them with the following benefits:

To support the development of their hips
To allow them to put weight through their hips and leg joints
To increase bone density
To reduce the risk of their muscles and joints tightening up
To improve their blood circulation
To help with their digestion and breathing
To allow them to have a change in posture, which relieves pressure caused by sitting for long periods of time.
To increase social interaction (at home and school)
To increase the child's alertness levels

Walking frames

Following their assessment, your child may be offered a walking frame. We offer either a walking frame that they push forward in front of them (anterior), or one that they pull behind them (posterior).

They will be taught how to correctly and safely use the walker, and their responsible adult (parent/carer/school staff) will also be trained.

Please note, we only provide select walkers; if your child requires one that is not part of our provision, charity funding will be needed for this, which parents will apply for, with the support of the therapist.

To support your child's development and postural needs, they may be provided with other equipment such as:

Gaiters
Off-the-shelf orthoses (e.g. splints, insoles)
Off-the-shelf helmets

Partner Services

If your child requires a new wheelchair or wheelchair repairs/adjustments, please contact the Wheelchair Services (link)
If your child has specialist seating at home or school that either needs a review, please contact the Occupational Therapy Team (link)
If there are concerns with equipment within the home, such as a shower chair or grab rail, please contact Social Services Occupational Therapist/Enabled Living (link)

Orthotics Clinic

If your child has trialed other foot splints or insoles, but these are not giving them enough support, your physiotherapist might refer your child to our orthotics clinic, for further foot/ankle/gait assessment.

These clinics run fortnightly on a Wednesday at West Ham Lane Health Centre.