Enactive explorations of children's sensory-motor play and therapeutic handling in physical therapy.

This is a qualitative study of 16 sessions; it describes interactions but does not measure motor outcomes or prove that handling causes improvement. The therapists were recruited via professional networks and self-selected, so they likely already valued play-based approaches. The analysis was primarily conducted by the first author, who is also the creator of the theoretical framework used to interpret the data. Independent walkers were underrepresented in the analyzed sessions, so findings apply mostly to children with more significant motor delays. The study took place in Western contexts (Norway and US), which may not generalize to other healthcare systems.

The authors declare that they are all pediatric physical therapists and that the first and second authors created the theoretical concept being tested. They acknowledge a preconception that therapeutic handling is valuable, which served as the lens for the analysis. No external funding or commercial conflicts are reported in the text.

Do not interpret this as evidence that hands-on therapy improves motor function. The study describes the nature of the interaction but did not measure whether the children's motor skills actually improved as a result of the handling.