With an adorable baby model and AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” in the background on the Instagram reel, more than 1 million people watched Dr. Emily Heisey confidently share how to entertain a baby under 3 months old.
“Look, y’all know that the ‘newborn’ phase is not my jam (thus the song), but your newbie is capable of far more than you think,” Emily says in the video’s caption. “Let’s start making those awake times a bit more purposeful and try challenging them with some of [these activities]. Believe me, it will definitely help those long days in the house go by a bit faster.”
The Southlake pediatric physical therapist helps babies, toddlers and children with their motor development, including everything from rolling over and crawling to walking and balancing. Armed with her doctorate, popular @kinactive_kids Instagram account and love for the work, Emily ensures kids develop properly.
THE ROAD TO PEDIATRICS
Growing up, Emily was a dancer and had visions of pursuing that when she entered college.
“Once I figured I was not going to make it on Broadway, I decided I wanted to go into a profession that was all about the body and how the body moved,” she says. “And physical therapy was a great option for me.”
So Emily began her education and as her clinical rotations got underway, one stuck — pediatrics. But with two older brothers and no experience babysitting, Emily says she never really had experience around kids.
“Kids were not really my thing,” she confesses. “But after working with them, I just loved how creative you could be and how they just never had that emotion of depression where sometimes older adults would. So for me, it was just a way to take all my creativity and energy and focus it with the kids who [are] really receptive to it.”
UNDERSTANDING PEDIATRIC PHYSICAL THERAPY
Most think physical therapy follows an injury. But that’s not the case with pediatric physical therapy.
“We’re actually teaching those foundational skills that they should have from birth and up. Pediatric physical therapy is more about the development of a child,” Emily says. “So we’re teaching kiddos...how to crawl and roll and walk. A lot of times children will have really flat, flexible feet, [so] we’ll have to educate them on shoes and different inserts or orthotics that will help them to walk.”
Pediatric physical therapy also addresses conditions like infant torticollis, a condition that causes the head to rotate and tilt at odd angles. After seeing Emily’s Instagram, Sejal Patel sought out treatment for their 6-month-old son Jude when he had issues supporting himself.
“If you tried to put him in a high chair or baby seat, he’d just slump over,” Sejal says. “From there, she recommended once a week therapy for six weeks. She truly sets you and your child up for success by not only giving you ‘homework’ to do with your child between sessions, but making sure you know how to do it.”
Some of the physical therapy exercises included side sitting, stretching and strategic toy placement. Thanks to Emily and Allison, the other physical therapist at her practice who also worked with him, Jude sat independently after one week and was able to get in and out of sitting in four weeks.
“Emily has helped Jude make such large strides,” Sejal says.
With her methods, Emily says she can usually treat patients in six to eight visits.
“That’s the coolest thing is [parents] seeing how if you directly work on a specific muscle and on a specific movement, that will be the missing piece to that gross motor skill,” Emily says.
Pediatric physical therapy can also help kids like Kinsley, a now 16-month-old born with the genetic disorder lissencephaly. Kinsley has been in therapy since her diagnosis at 8 months old.
“In basic terms, she lacks the folds and grooves that a typical brain has,” Kinsley’s mom, Stephani Keetch says. “This malformation leads to many issues, including gross motor delay, which is why we looked into PT for her.”
Stephani and Kinsley represent the breadth of Emily’s influence as they live in Washington state. But they drove down to Texas to participate in Kinactive Kamp — a consultation, physical therapy and chiropractic sessions.
“I found Emily through good ol’ Instagram,” Stephani says. “She was friends with a friend of a friend, and when I started scrolling [through] her page, I realized that I had to get Kinsley in front of her!”
Through Kinactive Kamp, Stephani says they initially started a two-week course, but that quickly turned into five weeks.
“The progress was so amazing that we just couldn't leave,” Stephani says. “Our goal was independent sitting, which is what Emily first started working on and that progressed to working on weight-bearing through her arms and transitions.”
Kinsley's exercises focused on tucking her chin, controlling her head and bearing her weight, among other strength tasks.
“[I feel] encouraged, inspired, proud, motivated and in complete awe! We were amazed every single day, and watching Kinsley now, after five weeks with Emily, is mind-blowing,” Stephani says. “She's a completely different baby and has functional mobility that she never had!”
When asked what she thinks of Emily, Stephani says she gets teary.
“As a parent, you want the absolute best for your child. You'd move mountains for them, or drive for four days from Washington state on a leap of faith to have a complete stranger work on your baby,” Stephani says. “There truly aren't enough thank yous for everything Emily did for us and for Kinsley. She did what therapists at home never could. She believed in Kinsley as much as we do and showed us what is possible for her.”
MEDICAL INSTAGRAM INFLUENCER
One big aspect of Emily’s job is her Instagram account @kinactive_kids, which now has more than 200,000 followers.
“I just started it on a whim and just with the intention of educating,” Emily says. “And it just blew up.”
Emily says within the first three months of having her account, she was up to 5,000 followers. After a little over a year, her account had reached more than 100,000 followers.
“It was kind of crazy and I think the biggest impact that I had hoped to make — and didn’t know I wanted to make — was really to educate people that this was out there, that there doesn’t need to be this wait-and-see approach when it comes to physicians or pediatricians,” Emily says.
Like with Sejal and Stephani, Emily says many of her patients’ parents find her through social media.
“With how much work I’ve put into it, it has become a way for me to monetize, and really, 95% of my referrals come from Instagram,” Emily says. “Instagram really is my job — my business.”
Devoting around five hours a day to Instagram on top of her full-time job, Emily uses her channel to share information about pediatric physical therapy, discuss child development and help soothe parents’ worries.
“I wanted to put this information out there that really wasn’t accessible and isn’t really out there, so that parents could feel more confident in parenting their child and going through those gross motor phases,” Emily says.
Some of the posts on her Instagram include “5 Ways To Get Your Kiddo To Stand” and “Game-Changing Gross Motor Hacks.” Many of her posts come with accompanying videos, letting parents see her tips in action.
“I make it to where it’s not scary, it’s not threatening,” Emily says.
Stephani says the tips and educational posts Emily puts on her Instagram account are both insightful and helpful.
“The tips she provides on that account are more than what most people get going to a physical therapist,” Stephani says. “She has invaluable information within her account, coupled with a little bit of spice and a whole lot of fun!”
After getting disclaimers, Emily records a number of her patients for her social media, to both track their progress and illustrate the long-term benefits of pediatric physical therapy.
“When [parents] are seeing that, they feel confident that their kiddo is going to get better, so I feel like the main comment is just [that] they feel empowered,” Emily says. “And then they like the different spin that I put on it. PT is not supposed to be scary, and it shouldn’t make you feel bad as a parent.”
EMPOWERING PARENTS EVERYWHERE
While Emily’s practice is in Southlake, her influence goes beyond city limits. For those who may not live locally, Emily offers virtual consultations and has courses parents can purchase that cover everything from crawling basics and foundational strength to rolling and addressing the different styles of crawls. And in a coming course upgrade, video instruction will be included.
“I can’t help every single mom individually, because I’m only one person,” Emily says. “But also the way I learn is very visual, and I like to break it down, and so when I break these skills down, it’s very easy for parents to do it at home. And once they see it through a video...the results are crazy.”
Emily has a simple goal: empowering parents.
“I want them to feel like they can do it,” Emily says. “I want to empower them, and I want them to have an extra tool in their toolbox if they feel like something’s going on and not feel like they have to wait for someone else to help them.”
Above all, whether it’s through in-person sessions, her Instagram account or her courses, Emily is dedicated to kids.
“You’re teaching them skills that otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to do and walking and crawling and moving is a huge part of our lives,” Emily says. “So if a child can’t do that, whether it be because they have cerebral palsy or just because they have low muscle tone, you’re the one getting to teach that skill that they’re gonna use for the rest of their lives. That’s very rewarding.”