Shoulder Girdle Stability



ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE SHOULDER STABILITY

Why: Increasing the muscular stability around the shoulder girdle will contribute to improved posture, postural control and fine motor skills, especially handwriting. A child needs to develop the ability to contract (pull together) the muscles on either side of the shoulder joint in order to develop control. This co-contraction enables them to hold the shoulder joint steady so the arm can be held in different positions while the forearm and hand accomplish different activities.

The following activities are designed to improve your child’s shoulder stability for the development of fine motor control and handwriting skills. Start by having fun playing crawling games, obstacles on all fours, Twister, go up the stairs on all fours, go through tunnels on all fours.

1. Bunny Hops

Place a PE bench or similar in a space and place two small mats or spots in front of the bench and slightly apart. Ask the child to lean forwards and place their hands on the bench equal distance between the two spots and stand with both feet on one spot. Ask the child to jump from one spot to the other with both feet landing together on one spot. The hands should be flat on the bench. Target: 20 repetitions initially, increasing each week by 5 up to a maximum of 40 repetitions.

2. Fruit picking

Place 2 spots on the floor, approximately 15cm apart and a container to throw into 15cm apart, so that all 3 things are in a straight line. Ask the child to sit on the spot furthest away from the container in the side sitting position with their right hand kept FLAT on the spot nearest the container. Both knees should be kept together for the whole exercise. Ask the child to reach up for a bean bag (pretend that this is fruit) with the left hand. The bean bag is held for the child, above the container. The right hand remains flat on the floor for the whole activity. The child will need to lift their pelvis in order to reach for the bean bag so that weight is taken through their right hand. They must place the bean bag into the container before sitting down again. Practice on both sides. Target: 10 repetitions initially, increasing each week by 5 up to a maximum of 20 repetitions each side.

3. Zoom Ball

Ask the child to stand holding onto both handles of the zoom ball while you hold the other two handles. You should ensure that the rope is taught. Ask the child to keep their arms out in front of their body and then open their arms out to the side without pulling back, so that the ball comes towards you. Then ask them to place their hands together so that you can return the ball to them. They may need hand over hand assistance initially until they get the hang of it, and then you can pair up two children together. Zoom balls can be bought commercially or made out of drinks bottles as in the picture.

4. Dog’s Dinner

On all fours, ask the child to bring their face down towards the floor and push up again into the crawling position. Place a bean bag between their hands and ask the child to touch the bean bag with their nose as this will give them an understanding of how far down to go. The elbows MUST not touch the floor and their weight should be kept forwards over the hands. Target: 10 repetitions initially, increasing each week by 5 up to a maximum of 20 repetitions each side.

5. Moving the bean bag

Ask the child to sit crossed legged on the floor and hold their arms straight out to the sides with a bean bag in one hand (like a letter T) Raise both arms straight up above their head and swap the bean bag into the other hand before returning the arms back out straight out to the sides. Continue moving the bean bag from one hand to the other. Target: 20 repetitions initially, increasing each week by 5 up to a maximum of 40 repetitions.

6. Crab football

Ask the child to get into the crab position and keep their bottom off the floor. The hands should be pointing behind them. In this position, practice kicking balls gently with either foot.

7. Wheelbarrow Walking

Wheelbarrow walking is also a great way to improve the muscle stability around the shoulder and ideally should be done everyday! Make sure you keep the back straight and that the child does not over arch their back or lock their elbows. The child needs to keep their hands pointing forwards, their legs straight and not wag their bottom!

8. Shoulder spirals

Ask the child to hold both arms out horizontally to the side and circle them slowly. Initially make small circles but gradually get larger until the circles are as large as possible.

When the circles have reached full size, change direction and gradually reduce the size again, to get back to the smallest size.

Other heavy work / everyday activities which would be beneficial include…

_ Opening doors

_ Carrying heaving shopping

_ Tug of war

_ Arm wrestling,

_ Sweeping, vacuuming, cleaning work surfaces / blackboard

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download