Children’s and teenager’s clinic
The children’s ward of the spa clinic treats children and teenagers aged between 6 and l8 with locomotive disorders. Since January 1st 2008 we also treat girls with gynaecological diseases – according to the indication list for group XXXI/1-6 – aged between 6 and 15. We treat children from 3 to 6 years old, accompanied by their mothers, after making a telephone appointment with the head doctor of the children’s ward of the clinic.
The treatment is based on individual therapeutic physical exercise using special techniques for which our medical staff is continually undergoing training. These are soft and mobilisation techniques, sensorimotor stimulation, Vojta reflex locomotion, the Schrot method, the Mojžíšová method, other facilitative methods, breathing exercises, yoga, deep stabilisation system exercises, including the muscles of the pelvic floor, amongst others.
The therapeutic physical exercises are done every day on an individual basis or in groups. Every day all the patients do therapeutic exercises in the pool and go swimming. From May to October hippotherapy is also used to treat indicated patients with disorders of the locomotive system.
The therapy uses a local natural source of healing – sulphur-ferric marsh peat. Application of peat poultices on the lower abdomen and lumbar region is the basis of the method used to treat girls with gynaecological diseases.
The wide range of procedures on offer, depending on the basic diagnosis, includes a variety of hydrotherapy sessions.
The comprehensive therapy also involves physical therapy procedures – light-therapy (biolamp, laser), electrotherapy using different low- and medium-frequency currents, magnetotherapy, and ultrasound. There are also massages and various reflex therapy methods that we use. The treatment of some children with orthopaedic disorders is accompanied by exercises using prosthetic aids. In indicated cases, while a child is staying at the spa it is also possible to have an orthesis made in our specialised prosthetics centre, train the child to adapt to the aid and learn to use it.
While staying with us for therapy schoolchildren are taught in our Special Primary School at the children’s clinic. Classes are reduced to 3 teaching hours a day. Each class contains 8 to 9 pupils. Classes are taught in individual subjects according to the syllabus provided by the children’s school for the duration of their stay. Special teachers also give classes to children from special schools.
The children’s ward of the spa clinic has 54 beds. The length of time spent in the clinic is determined on an individual basis depending on the patient’s age and nature of the disorder; it generally ranges from 4 to 8 weeks. In a friendly environment which respects the mentality and individual needs of each child, children are provided with intensive and comprehensive spa care under constant expert supervision. The result is that their state of health improves and stabilises. We try to teach the children about their medical condition in a suitable manner and motivate them to play an active part in the curative process. We try to ensure that the care we give to children staying in the clinic is fully in line with the Charter of Rights of Hospitalised Children.
When children are discharged from the spa their parents are given detailed information about their condition and the physiotherapist shows them how the child can exercise at home. Out-patient physiotherapy is the best means of following on from intensive in-patient treatment, as by the end of their stay at the spa children are perfectly trained and motivated to actively participate in their therapy.