Often times as therapists, teachers, and parents it has been past practice to discourage children from w-sitting. We often recommended alternative sitting positions other than w-sitting. The negative effects that we often describe do not have research to support it. Examples of these negative effects that are not evidence based are the following: hip muscle […]
Gross Motor Skills, Postural Stability, and Autism Research indicates that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently exhibit deficits in gross motor skills and postural stability. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders published research examining the relationship between gross motor skills, postural stability, and autism. The participants included 11 children with ASD and 11 children without […]
Recent research examined the effect of postural management treatment on hip displacement in children with cerebral palsy. The treatment group consisted of 30 children with cerebral palsy who received neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) two times per week and a 5 hour daily use of a molded seat postural program. The control group (21 children with cerebral palsy) […]
Gait & Posture published research comparing 16 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 16 typically developing children (TD) to determine the effects of a light fingertip touch on postural control. Postural sway was measured with a force platform in different conditions: anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions, light fingertip touch (LT) and no touch […]
Another great resource found on Facebook. This resource was shared by Sparkle Occupational Therapy. It is an award winning document entitled The A to Z of Postural Care from the University of Kent. The document discusses various types of adaptive equipment, manual handling, emotional support, inclusive education and the golden rules about equipment use. Then […]
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology published a systemic review to to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of exercise interventions that may improve postural control in children with cerebral palsy. Six databases were searched using the following keywords: (‘cerebral palsy’ OR ‘brain injury’); AND (‘posture’ OR ‘balance’ OR ‘postural balance’ ); AND (‘intervention’ OR ‘therapy’ OR […]
Research was published assessing the dynamic bilateral postural stability on balance control and gait parameters in 30 children with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy (8-10 years old). The children were divided into two groups. One group received 2 hours per session of physical therapy for 3x/week for 8 weeks. The second group received 1.5 hours per session […]
Recent research assessed the postural control of 90 very preterm (VPT) children (<30 weeks gestation) and 36 full term children (>37 weeks gestation) at four years old. Using a Wii Balance Board, various tasks were assessed including static two-limbed standing with eyes open, eyes closed, eyes open on a foam mat, eyes closed on a […]
Pediatric Physical Therapy published research comparing postural stability during static upright standing between 45 children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 45 age-matched peers with typical development (TD) ages 5-12 years old. A posturography device was used for assessment. Postural stability was evaluated under 4 sensory conditions: eyes open and eyes closed on a firm surface; […]
Gait and Posture published some intriguing research on the effects of touch and trunk sway in a seated position. There were 13 healthy, adult subjects who participated in the study. Each participant performed a total of 12 trials of 60-seconds duration in a randomized order, combining the experimental conditions of no-touch, hand-touch (right index finger […]