Centre of Movement brings clinic from Gold Coast to Townsville to support children with disabilities

North Queensland families of children with disabilities were able to participate in physical therapy and use world-class technology as part of a clinic from a Gold Coast centre.

6-year-old Jordan King using the Trexo Robotic Walker at The Strand.

A leading paediatric allied health clinic from the Gold Coast has spent a week holding a clinic with Townsville families.

The Centre of Movement team works with children with a range of disabilities, including cerebral palsy. They offer intensive, occupational, exercise and physiotherapy services.

The business held a week long clinic at the Picnic Bay Surf Lifesaving Club, offering specialised therapy for children and their families that they would usually have to travel for.

The clinic also allowed children to use the Trexo Robotic Walker, a revolutionary robotic device that helps children take their first steps.

The device is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

Longreach mother Morgan Rayner said she often has to travel to receive therapy with her 2-year-old daughter Margot, who has cerebral palsy.

6-year-old Jordan King with his mum Ashlee King using the Trexo Robotic Walker at The Strand.

“We’ve been able to do lots of physical manipulation with her muscles, she’s been learning to crawl and sit,” she said.

“She’s had an opportunity to use the Trexo machine, that’s given her a great idea of how to actually produce the movement of walking as that doesn’t come naturally to her.”

Ms Rayner said she usually travels to the Gold Coast or Brisbane to receive therapy but was excited to meet other North Queensland families at the Townsville clinic.

“We met another little boy similar to Margot’s age but with a different condition and we had such a great time meeting them.”

Co-Director of Centre of Movement and occupational therapist Emily Pennisi said the idea to have a clinic in Townsville came from the number of families from the area travelling south.

6-year-old Jordan King with his mum Ashlee King using the Trexo Robotic Walker at The Strand.

“We have so many families who travel from Townsville to our Gold Coast clinic and we knew there was a need for something like this up in Townsville,” she said.

Both Emily and her husband Steve are originally from Townsville and said it was ‘lovely’ to come back and be able to provide therapy to local families.

“The intensive therapy model is for the kids to come along three hours a day, for five days a week and it’s to work on gross motor milestone, ”she said.

“We know that neuroplasticity takes a lot of repetition and time. The kids with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions were able to use the Trexo Robotic Walker, being able to take some of their first steps up and down The Strand, which is amazing to see.”

Originally published as Centre of Movement brings clinic from Gold Coast to Townsville to support children with disabilities