Movement Of The Month! (Feb. 2019)

(Feb. 2019)

Brought to you by the Rebecca School Physical Therapy Department

February’s Movement is….

Crawling!

How to crawl: Child places hands and knees on the floor, lifts body into tabletop position, then moves forward with opposing hand and knee.

Why crawling is important: Crawling helps to align the spine and develop muscles of the back, shoulder, and hips. It assists with the development of children’s eyes focusing and converging together, a skill necessary for pre-reading & depth perception; improves balance by stimulating the vestibular system; provides sensory integration via tactile input from the hands; improves body/spatial awareness; aids in development of controlled mobility/stability; and activates abdominal, neck, back, arm, chest, and leg muscles.

Modifying crawling: Give tap at chest muscles to help a child extend arms; give support at hips to assist child to move forward and stay in tabletop position

For an extra challenge: Try crawling under an obstacle or over a squishy surface! Try sequencing Meatball, Log Roll, Cobra, Army Crawl, and then Crawl!