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M. Elhamadany1, Y. Salem2
1University of North Dakota - School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Therapy, Grand Forks, United States, 2Hofstra University, Physical Therapy, Long Island, New York, United States
Background: Since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic until the beginning of 2020, more than two hundred million babies have been born worldwide. Yet, minimal information is provided to practicing physical therapists on this topic. Thus, many physical therapists feel ill-prepared to offer suggestions for preventive actions that can be of benefit to children and families. The COVID-19 pandemic also challenged physical therapists (PT) and other health care providers to modify their service delivery to accommodate public health guidelines while continuing to promote children’s motor development in a time of great need.
Purpose: This review aims to provide the current evidence regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s development and to describe the role of adapting strategies such as Telehealth and Tele-exercise in pediatric physical therapy assessments and service delivery.
Methods: A review of the most relevant published articles, including clinical trials, and reviews was conducted. Four electronic databases, PubMed, CINAHL Complete, SPORTDiscus, Google, and Scholar, were searched up to April 2022.Only studies that investigated how the COVID-19 pandemic affected children’s motor development and the role of adapting strategies in physical therapy assessments and service delivery were included. The contributions were critically reviewed, and the final version was approved by all the authors.
Results: Children who were born during the COVID-19 pandemic might be at a higher risk of delay in the development of gross and fine motor skills, however, the effects of the pandemic differed depending on their developmental stage. Impaired neurodevelopment was evident at one year of age, a critical window for the development of specific domain functions. These early findings support the need for long-term monitoring of children born during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even in the absence of direct infection, the environmental changes associated with the pandemic significantly and negatively affect infant and child development.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and well-being in children and young people with neurodisability and their families was reported under three overarching themes: 'Uncertainty and Anxiety,' 'Exacerbation of Existing Inequalities,' and 'Care Provision: Reaction, Adaptation, and Innovation.' Time had an impact on all of the themes.
Telehealth and tele-exercise have been shown to promote physical fitness in typically developing children and other studies found gains of motor function in children with special needs. Moreover, tele-exercise allowed flexible scheduling and limited the infection risks.
Even in the absence of direct infection, the environmental changes associated with the pandemic significantly and negatively affect infant and child development.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and well-being in children and young people with neurodisability and their families was reported under three overarching themes: 'Uncertainty and Anxiety,' 'Exacerbation of Existing Inequalities,' and 'Care Provision: Reaction, Adaptation, and Innovation.' Time had an impact on all of the themes.
Telehealth and tele-exercise have been shown to promote physical fitness in typically developing children and other studies found gains of motor function in children with special needs. Moreover, tele-exercise allowed flexible scheduling and limited the infection risks.
Conclusions: The pandemic’s disruptions have negatively affected children’s development. There are, however, a variety of promising approaches to persuade children to keep active and boost their motor development, even under the circumstance of home confinement.
Implications: This narrative review presents an overview of how delivering telehealth exercise is an incredible opportunity for pediatric patients when they should be confined to their homes.
Physical therapists need to be informed about how to decide the appropriate adapting practice for remote testing and PT service delivery. As a result, they will be motivated to use these adapting strategies at the point of care to alleviate the burden of living in a pandemic on children with developmental delays.
Physical therapists need to be informed about how to decide the appropriate adapting practice for remote testing and PT service delivery. As a result, they will be motivated to use these adapting strategies at the point of care to alleviate the burden of living in a pandemic on children with developmental delays.
Funding acknowledgements: There was no funding source used, and there are no conflicts of interest.
Keywords:
COVID-19 pandemic
Pediatric physical therapy
Telehealth
COVID-19 pandemic
Pediatric physical therapy
Telehealth
Topics:
COVID-19
Paediatrics
Service delivery/emerging roles
COVID-19
Paediatrics
Service delivery/emerging roles
Did this work require ethics approval? No
Reason: It is a Narrative Review
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
