Inpatient Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit and Therapy Gym
Inpatient Rehab Referrals
Clinicians who want to refer a patient for inpatient rehab, please call (757) 668-9999 and ask to speak with the inpatient rehabilitation doctor on call.
Outpatient Rehab Referrals
Our team provides outpatient care to patients from birth to age 21. See our referral guidelines here.
Our Fax Number: (757) 668-7895
Visitor Information and Hours
VIDEO | Tour our newly renovated inpatient pediatric rehabilitation unit & therapy gym.
About Our Rehab Unit
CHKD has the only pediatric inpatient rehabilitation unit in Virginia. While most patients come from Virginia, North Carolina, and West Virginia, CHKD accepts referrals from anywhere in the country. Each case is individually reviewed by our medical team and discussed with the referring provider.
The 8-bed unit is located within our 206-bed, full-service, freestanding children’s hospital. At CHKD, every inch of our facility and every member of our medical team is devoted solely to the needs of young people, and our patients benefit from a full roster of pediatric-trained caregivers and support staff.
As part of an acute care children’s hospital, our rehabilitation unit is uniquely qualified to care for children with complex medical needs, such as ventilator support, that most inpatient rehab facilities do not handle. In many cases this allows us to begin rehabilitation earlier in a child’s recovery process than other facilities.
Our unit accepts most forms of insurance and accepts referrals from anywhere in the country. Parents from outside our immediate service area often stay at Norfolk’s Ronald McDonald house, located across the street from the hospital campus. Members of our staff are available to help coordinate insurance coverage and needs related to travel so you can focus on your child’s recovery.
Our Facility
Our Rehabilitation unit’s design was inspired by Norfolk’s thriving military aviation community, and features a “jet runway,” on the main hall to measure distances of movement during therapy sessions.
Each room is private with a permanent overhead lift. Each room also has a private, accessible bathroom with a shower.
Therapy sessions take place in our cheerful, state-of-the-art therapy gym, equipped with the ZeroG Gait and Balance System, among many tools.
Treatment rooms, a family area, and a common area are also integrated into the unit.
Specializing in Complex Care
Because our unit is within a full-service children’s hospital, we are licensed to care for children with complex medical needs that disqualify patients from many other rehabilitation facilities. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Tracheostomies
- Central lines
- Feeding tubes
- Dialysis
- Cancer treatment
- Wound care
- Respiratory support services
Conditions We Treat
We are able to care for children with a wide variety of health care needs including, but not limited to, tracheostomies, central lines, feeding tubes, dialysis, cancer treatment, wound care, and respiratory support services.
- Amputation
- Spina bifida
- Brain tumors
- Spinal cord injury
- Cerebral palsy
- Stroke
- Feeding problems
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Joint disease
- Traumatic illness
- Neuromuscular disease
- Traumatic injury
Comprehensive Care
Each patient who comes to the pediatric rehabilitation unit has a unique combination of skills and challenges, so many different specialists are involved in their care. Team members may include:
Medical doctors specializing in pediatric physical medicine will be in charge of your child's care in the Rehab Unit. Your child may also see other doctors, such as pediatric hospitalists and resident physicians. CHKD patients also have access to pediatricians in more than 30 specialties, such as neurology, pulmonary medicine, medical genetics, and gastroenterology, should the need arise.
Registered nurses (RN) who specialize in the care of young rehabilitation patients will spend the most time with your child and become a first "point of contact" for you with information about your child.
These therapists work with large muscle groups on skills such as sitting, standing and walking. Physical therapists also help patients learn to use wheelchairs, walkers, or other special equipment.
These therapists work small muscle groups on controlling parts of the body such as the hands and the mouth. Occupational therapists work on skills such as dressing and eating.
These therapists will help patients regain or develop speech and language skills. They may also work with PT or OT with eating and drinking skills.
CHKD's hospital school program is helping children 2-21 recover their thinking and reasoning skills and/or keep up with their classes while they're in the hospital.
Medical social workers are available to help you adjust to your child's diagnosis or hospitalization and to help you connect with resources in the community that can assist you. Social workers can also help you make a smooth transition from hospital to home when it's time for your child to be discharged.
These nurses work with insurance companies for admission to the unit and will help at the end of your child's stay by coordinating the services and treatments that your child will need to continue at home.
Registered dietitians will address any special dietary or nutritional needs your child may have.
Play and recreation are vital to children's health, growth and development, even while they're in the hospital. Child life specialists help patients make a positive adjustment to hospitalization through age-appropriate activities.
CHKD's clinical social workers and mental health counselors are there to help rehab patients through their mental challenges as they heal.
Advanced Technology and Robotics
We incorporate the latest technology and assistive devices as part of our overall treatment strategy to restore and improve body movement and function.
Some of our therapeutic tools include:
- Zero G Gait and Balance System: a Robotic body-weight support system on an overhead track for practicing a wide range of activities without the risk of falling.
- BIODEX Balance system: static and dynamic balance testing and training.
- Bioness Integrated Therapy System: assesses and treats the physical, visual, auditory, and cognitive deficits resulting from traumatic injuries and movement disorders. It can assess visuomotor coordination, reaction time, visuospatial perception, visual and auditory processing, working memory, physical and cognitive endurance.
- Bioness neuroprosthetics: We utilize the L300 Go Foot Drop System and the H200 for hand paralysis.
After discharge
Most children will require ongoing therapies and follow-up appointments after discharge. CHKD offers outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy services at a variety of locations, and our physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians have offices throughout Hampton Roads.
Learn more about our approaches to:
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability in children. Children with a brain injury can have problems with headaches, dizziness, sleep, memory, attention, focus, processing speed, depression, anxiety, PTSD, walking, talking, eating, and activities of daily living like bathing and going to the bathroom.
We strive to meet our patient’s needs throughout the full continuum of brain injury care:
- Acute Care: from Emergency Department to hospital admission in our Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center.
- Post-Acute Care: the only dedicated pediatric inpatient rehab unit in Virginia, or our satellite outpatient rehab centers located throughout Hampton Roads.
Because of the complexity of these brain injuries, we utilize a multi-disciplinary approach to diagnose, treat and provide ongoing care for children and families with brain injuries to include physical, cognitive and emotional treatment and the development of a framework to support the acute and chronic social impacts of brain injury.
Among the treatment programs and tracking systems we employ are:
- Bioness Integrated Therapy System (BITS)
- Lokomat Gait Training
- Aquatic Therapy
- Microcurrent treatment
- VitaStim therapy
We approach chronic pain management using a combination of therapeutic interventions, patient and family education, and pharmacologic management when appropriate. We collaborate with our skilled therapists, community providers of complementary and alternative treatment options, mental health team and our pain/palliative medicine specialist.
We focus on chronic pain syndromes related to neurologic, physiologic, and musculoskeletal origins. We also treat amplified musculoskeletal pain syndromes.
Our team provides a holistic approach to chronic pain with a compassionate focus aimed at empowering our patients and their families.
We understand that spasticity, a condition in which certain muscles are stiff and tight, can interfere with normal movement, speech and gait. An individualized treatment plan is presented to each patient that may include therapy, bracing, medications, focal botulinum toxin injections, or alcohol nerve blocks. We aim to help control spasticity in an effort to improve function.
Focal botulinum toxin injections help spastic muscles relax for a period of 3-4 months to allow for improved movement and function. Alcohol nerve blocks are also used at times to limit the signal from the brain causing spasticity in certain muscle groups. Other treatment options include evaluation for and management of intrathecal baclofen pumps, evaluation/referral for surgical interventions including selective dorsal root rhizotomy, and orthopedic procedures.
Related Videos
ZeroG Gait and Balance System
Treating Traumatic Brain Injury