Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

When your child has a disability or injury, it is important to find specialists who understand how these conditions affect a child who is still growing physically and developing neurologically. At Children’s National Hospital, our goal is to help every child reach the highest level of physical, cognitive and social functioning possible – letting kids be kids and enjoy their childhood.

Physical Medicine for Kids

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation treats and monitors infants, children and teens at all stages of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitative care. For children with more complex disorders or illnesses, our division experts can coordinate treatment plans and condition management with pediatric specialists in more than 50 disciplines at Children's National.

Features of the Rehabilitation Medicine program include:

• Continuity of care. Our specialists provide acute comprehensive care for patients at Children's National as well as sub-acute and post-acute care at HSC Health Care System Pediatric Center in Washington, D.C., and pediatric inpatient care at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital, located next to Children's National. The presence of Children's National at all three health systems distinguishes our rehabilitative services from other programs around the country, by ensuring a continuum of care with Children's National doctors and health team members who know your child's medical history and special needs.
• Specialty programs and clinics. Our team offers comprehensive rehabilitation through our numerous multi-specialty clinics. All treatment is tailored to your child's unique needs.
• Therapists with advanced training and certifications. As a children's hospital, we have the resources and knowledge to promote age-appropriate life skills for optimal growth and development, from daily living skills to play – a kid’s most important job. Our physical and occupational therapists have advanced training and certifications in a variety of pediatric rehabilitation therapies.
• Multidisciplinary care. In addition to the division's pediatric physiatrists, our care team is comprised of experts from a variety of areas, including rehabilitation nursing, youth transition services, orthotics and physical, recreational and occupational therapy.

Conditions We Treat

We provide state-of-the art diagnostic evaluations and comprehensive rehabilitation services for many conditions, including neurological disorders, traumatic injuries and congenital (present at birth) physical disabilities, including:

• Brachial plexus palsy
• Cerebral palsy and other brain injuries
• Functional decline from acute and chronic conditions
• Gross motor delay
• Hemiparesis
• Hypertonia
• Hypotonia
• Muscle weakness
• Neuromuscular disorders
• Pain: Musculoskeletal and/or neuropathic
• Spasticity
• Spina bifida and other spinal cord injuries
• Stroke
• Toe walking
• Torticollis

Rehabilitation Services We Provide

We provide our patients and their families with a coordinated care plan that often saves them from the frustration of multiple appointments with various providers. We offer the following services as part of our program:

• Bracing
• Constraint-induced treatment
• Developmental assessment
• Exercise prescription
• Gait training
• Neuro-developmental treatment
• Physical abilities testing
• Sensory integration
• Standardized testing and assessment for perceptual motor and learning disabilities
• Upper and lower extremity (limb) casting

Our Multidisciplinary Clinics

We care for many children in the region with complex medical needs. We have established comprehensive, multidisciplinary clinics to meet the unique needs of these patients and their families, including our:

• Brachial Plexus Program
• Motor Dysfunction Clinic 
• Muscular Dystrophy Care Center (the official Muscular Dystrophy Association [MDA] clinic for children in the Washington, D.C., area)
• Neonatal and Infant Follow-Up Clinic
• Perinatal Brain Injury Program
• Skeletal Dysplasia 
• Spina Bifida Program
• Torticollis Clinic 
• White Matter Disease Program

Contact Us

For more information about Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation or to schedule your child’s in-person appointment, procedure or telehealth visit, call us at 202-476-3094.