Postural Control

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The development of postural control is the foundation for reaching motor milestones; these are rolling, crawling, creeping and walking. Until a baby can control their posture and balance, they struggle to focus on developing those more complex motor skills. (Case-Smith, J. 2001).

 I think of my own experiences of learning to snowboard, on my first day all my strength and energy was going in to maintaining an upright position and not falling over, I was not thinking about doing jumps or perfecting my turns. I was taking direction from the instructor on what was the correct standing position and practicing this while in a stable position then when I felt confident enough I threw myself down the slope. I have improved significantly since then and now when I go up the mountain I don’t need to focus on my balance as it is a skill I have already mastered, now I can focus on developing those more complex skills such as landing a jump or having the correct alignment to hit the box.

For a child with cerebral palsy, developing postural control is essential to developing those more complex skills and should be the focus for treatment, until they have achieved postural control it is much harder for them to learn other skills. So how can we make treatment enjoyable for the child? As with any new skills it is exhausting and can be frustrating learning something new, however it is proven that task-orientated exercises help improve basic motor abilities, functional muscle strength and walking abilities. For a child meaningful activities are of course play! How can we incorporate the necessary movements and exercise routines in to play to make it an enjoyable and meaningful experience for a child? And that can be carried out in your own lounge or in the class room? 
It has been found that children absorbed in play can be stimulated to use more appropriate movements to improve head, trunk and extremity control as they are not focussed on specific motor demands of the activity. (Merrill, S.C., Mulligan, S.E., 2003)

Here a couple of ideas that I came across. Feel free to share any helpful resources or ideas you know of that are related to improving postural control!

Postural Control Exercises

Activities to Improve Postural Control and Balance 

The above video is not specific to postural control but is a good example of how we can use a range of methods to encourage movement and strengthening of the muscles in children. 


9 best ways to help kid with cerebral palsy

This is a great clip on developing sitting balance and how you can encourage your child to do it


References
         Case-Smith, J. 2001. Occupational therapy for children (4^th ed). St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby.

          Merrill, S.C., Mulligan, S.E., (2003). Neurological dysfunction in children. In E.B. Crepeau, E.S. Cohn, & B.A. Boyt-Schell (Eds.), Willard and Spackman's occupational therapy (3rd ed., pp. 699-716). Philadelphia: Lippencott, Williams & Wilkins.