We seem to have a bunch of little ones right now that are working on taking independent steps. They have cruising down and are walking with a push toy. They just don’t like to let go of the support surface, or sometimes, even shift their weight forward. We have a few techniques we have been […]
Core Strength and New Walkers
When kids first learn to walk, they aren’t steady or confident in their motor skills and balance (not that they know this, but their bodies do) and they need ways to control all the joints. They will often lock out joints to control degrees of freedom so there are less things moving that they have […]
Gait Analysis
We were recently asked to talk about how we do gait analysis for kids with neuromuscular challenges such as cerebral palsy. We have a few things that we do depending on what we are trying to find out. For this post I will talk about our go to method. Our main method of doing gait […]
Using a Walker to Improve Balance
We have a young man who has been working on walking his whole life. Recently due to growth spurts and other factors, he’s become more fearful of falling and having even more trouble with his balance when he walks. Using a walker has not been something he is interested in, and his parents have […]
Is Toe Walking Typical?
When your young child is just learning to stand or walk, you may see them occasionally go up on their tip-toes for a brief moment, then relax back down. This is typical, and is often used to allow for stability with newly acquired skills. The overall use of this; however, should progressively decrease over time. […]
New Walkers – Tackling New Terrain with Yoga Mats
When a child first starts to walk, they are often in high guard (their arms up high), they are rigid through their trunk (no rotation or arm swing), and they have a wider base of support with a shorter step length. They are using all their muscles to keep their balance with each step they […]
Early Standing and Walking
We recently shared the above photo on our Facebook page. This photo was posted by Kids Physio Group out of Vancouver and had the following caption: ‘If babies can pull up all by themselves, they are ready! So simple. Development of these skills comes through natural exploration of their environment. So here’s your challenge, don’t […]
Using a Treadmill for Walking Quality
In last week’s post we talked about weight shifting and trunk elongation to help walking quality and energy efficiency. This week we are going to look at using a treadmill. For some kids who are working on walking quality and efficiency foot placement can be a big deal. How they take that first step can […]
Weight Shifting and Trunk Elongation
We have been working on walking with some kids that are working on improving their weight shifting and all the mechanics that go with that. Many of them have hip weakness which we are addressing but we are also looking at other areas to address as well. With the hip weakness you can often see […]