From 0 to 18 years oldOnline paediatric physiotherapyChildren are not miniature adults
If the way your child moves has left you with a doubt, you are in the right place. With children everything is different — starting with who does the exercises.
free first visit, 20 minutesno credit cardwith the youngest children the session lasts an hour
Every age has its own questions
What you look at in an eight-month-old has nothing to do with what you look at in a fourteen-year-old. Below are the things parents tell us about most often: you will probably recognise yours.
0 – 3 yearsFirst months, first steps
A head always turned the same way, a preference that doesn’t pass, a milestone that’s late in coming. At this age you get a lot out of very little.
3 – 6 yearsThe body learns to play
Walking on tiptoe, falling more than the others, avoiding the slide or the bike. It’s hardly ever laziness: it’s a movement that hasn’t found its way yet.
6 – 11 yearsSchool, backpack, sport
Growing pains, a back hunched over the desk, the first twisted ankle at play. This is where the habits the body will carry for twenty years begin.
11 – 18 yearsThe body changes fast
Bone grows before muscle: knees and heels that hurt, sport that starts to weigh. The most delicate age, and the one that gets looked after least.
The reasons parents write to us
With the caveat we always start from, because it is the one that genuinely puts parents at ease: a great many of these things are normal variations of growth and settle on their own. Knowing which ones, and which instead deserve a look, is already half the work.
In the first months
- Congenital torticollis
The baby keeps their head tilted to one side and struggles to turn it the other way. The sooner it’s looked at, the less time it takes: age at the first assessment is the factor that weighs most.
- Flat head (plagiocephaly)
In the vast majority of cases it improves a great deal on its own, and in the studies the helmet did no better than the natural course. What works is positioning and tummy time, every single day.
- Hip dysplasia
The treatment is orthopaedic, not ours: we tell you straight away. We work around the process — how to hold your baby while the brace is on, and the motor milestones once it comes off.
- Babies born prematurely
Milestones are counted from the corrected age, not from the date of birth: that’s why so many alarms settle the moment the sums are done properly.
When they learn to move
- Not crawling, or shuffling along
Skipping crawling is a common variation and on its own it predicts nothing. What counts more is that they use both halves of the body in the same way.
- Not walking at 18 months
It’s the point beyond which it’s worth taking a look, not a verdict: plenty of children set off later and then catch up quickly.
- Walking on tiptoe
Very common up to the age of 3 and it often passes. It deserves attention if it carries on beyond that, if it’s only on one side, or if the heel won’t come down to the floor.
- Using one side more than the other
A clear, constant preference for one side before 18 months is the first signal we look at, because it isn’t a phase: it’s an asymmetry.
At nursery and primary school
- Flat feet, knock knees, bow legs
Almost always these are normal variations of growth that sort themselves out. What’s needed is an assessment — and not insoles — if they hurt, if they are asymmetrical, or if the child tires straight away.
- Falls often, seems clumsy
It has a name — motor coordination difficulty — and it responds well, because at this age movement is learned through play and the results come quickly.
- Limping
A limp that lasts more than a few days, or that turns up without a fall, should always be seen by the paediatrician before it is seen by us.
- Posture and the school bag
One shoulder higher, a back hunched over the desk. It’s hardly ever the scoliosis people fear, but it is the age when habits that last twenty years are built.
From 11 years upwards
- Osgood-Schlatter and Sever’s disease
The knee and the heel that hurt in a young athlete. Complete rest doesn’t solve them: you manage the load, and carry on playing in a different way.
- Scoliosis in adolescence
Specific exercise has evidence behind it and can be done well at a distance, because it is a daily programme to be learned — not a manipulation to be received.
- Back and neck pain
At 10 just as at 15. Most of the time it is load and posture, not a disease, and the answer is the right movement, not stopping.
- Sports injuries and recovery
Ankle sprains, knee pain, going back to sport after a fracture or an operation: the long part of recovery is the part that happens at home.
We do not treat complex neurological and neuromuscular conditions online — cerebral palsy, neuromuscular diseases, the aftermath of severe injury: they need in-person care, and if you write to us about those we say so straight away instead of wasting your time.
Did your own child come to mind while you were reading?
Twenty minutes on a video call, free, to work out whether this is something to look into or something to leave alone. No credit card.
With a child, the hands that matter are yours
And that is exactly why working at a distance with children goes better, not worse. The physiotherapist watches, measures and corrects you; the touching and the moving are done by the person who is already there, every day. That is you.
- Your child moves the way they really move
At home, with their own toys, without the white coat and the unfamiliar room that change their behaviour for the first ten minutes.
- The session lasts an hour
With the youngest children the assessment needs time and play, and at the end you have questions of your own: those do not get cut short.
- You learn, you do not just watch
You leave the session knowing what to do over the next seven days and what to keep an eye on: that is the part that decides how it ends up.
Three steps, and the first one costs nothing
The first visit, free
Twenty minutes with a physiotherapist, no credit card. You tell us what you have noticed: if we are not the right place for you, we say so right there.
The assessment, unhurried
With the youngest children it lasts an hour, in your own home, with you beside them. We look at how your child really moves, not at how they move in front of a stranger.
The week between sessions
A few minutes a day, in the shape of a game, with you knowing what to look for. That is where the change happens, not in the hour of the session.
When to book, and when not to
We would rather tell you before than after: not everything that worries a parent needs a physiotherapist, and some things need a doctor before they need us.
You can keep watching
Every child has their own timing, and almost every difference settles on its own. If there is no pain, if your child is not losing things they could already do and is growing well, watching for a few more weeks is absolutely fine.
Worth asking about
A clear, constant preference for one side, a movement that does not arrive while the others do, a pain that keeps coming back in the same spot. It is not an emergency: it is the moment when asking costs little.
The doctor first
Pain that wakes your child at night, fever together with pain, a swollen joint, something they could do and no longer do, a heavy trauma. This is one for the paediatrician: we come after, not before.
Two formats, because the work is different
- Up to 10 years old59,90 €per session, a full hour
It takes time, it takes play, and it takes you leaving the session knowing what to do over the next seven days. It is run by a physiotherapist specialised in children and adolescents.
- From 11 to 18 years old29,90 €per session, standard format
At this age they do the exercises on their own: there is no sense in charging you double for something they do not need. What changes is the physiotherapist, who knows growth and the overload problems typical of those years. Not the price.
In neither case is there a joining fee, a compulsory package or a subscription. The first visit stays free, and its whole purpose is to work out how many sessions actually make sense: very often only a few.
Twenty minutes on a video call, with your child in your arms if that helps. It will ask you which area hurts: that is optional, you can skip it.
A specialist in children and adolescents
Your child is not seen by the physiotherapist who would see an adult: Junior sessions are run by a physiotherapist specialised in children and adolescents. It was not a skill we had in house, and that is why this line is only starting now. The first visit is carried out by our network, all of them on the Albo TSRM PSTRP (the Italian register of physiotherapists).
The questions parents ask us most
From what age can a child do physiotherapy online?
From birth, but who does the work changes. In the first months the session is aimed almost entirely at you: the physiotherapist watches your child and teaches you the movements and positions to use every day. As your child grows, they take a bigger and bigger part in it themselves.
How long does a session last, and what does it cost?
It depends on age, because the work is different. Up to 10 years old the session lasts an hour and costs 59,90 €: it takes time, it takes play, and it takes teaching the parent what to do during the week. From 11 upwards the young person does the exercises alone and the session is the standard one, 29,90 €, with a physiotherapist who knows how a growing body works. In neither case is there a higher price to get started, and the first 20-minute visit is free.
Is the free first visit an actual assessment?
No, and it is only fair to say so. Twenty minutes are enough to work out whether the online route makes sense and what we need to know before starting; they are not a clinical assessment. With a child that is not possible, and pretending otherwise would help nobody.
What if my child’s problem cannot be treated online?
We tell you. At the end of the first visit the case is given an outcome — green, amber or red — and red means online is not the right route: in that case we point you towards where it does make sense to go, without selling you a session.
Do we need a referral from the paediatrician?
No, you do not need one to book. But if the paediatrician has already given you advice, or you have recent test results, bring them to the visit: they help us read the situation quickly.
Who looks after the children?
A physiotherapist who specialises in children and adolescents. It is not a skill shared by every professional in the network: treating a child takes dedicated training.
Do I have to be there during the session?
Yes, and it is the heart of the method, not a box to tick. You are the one repeating the exercises at home every day: the session is there to teach them to you and to correct them while you do them.
Do you do osteopathy as well?
Yes, within what can be done remotely: assessment, guidance and guided work carried out with the parent. Manual techniques, by definition, need someone in the room — when they are what is needed, we say so and point you in the right direction.
Let’s start with the first visit, free
Twenty minutes to work out together whether this route makes sense for your child. And to tell you frankly when the answer is no.