| Description |
Newborns, struggling to survive from prematurity, heart/lung conditions, rare syndromes, etc., work hard to breathe. This often creates atypical mechanical forces on their rapidly developing chest walls and may result in acquired chest wall deformities. We’ll look at how the chest wall develops in healthy 0 - 12 month old babies and compare that to infants struggling to survive (increase work of breathing). We’ll follow at-risk children for secondary chest wall deformities and reflect on clinical signs that therapists could use to screen babies/young children for earlier interventions. We will also discuss congenital chest wall deformities vs. acquired deformities. Is there a difference in how you would approach these conditions? Finally, we will follow some long term cases to see what interventions might contribute to positive postural and/or structural changes in congenital vs. acquired chest deformities.
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