Children’s posture – what it should look like and its importance

Development of movement

When children are born, their nervous system is quite immature, and so they have what are known as primitive reflexes (think grasping your finger or turning their mouth to feed) which help them to ‘survive’ by separating front and back, top and bottom, left and right. As they mature, these reflexes integrate and make way for the postural reflexes (tummy time, rolling, crawling, standing, walking etc.). These postural reflexes are the ‘building blocks’ of how a child moves and therefore, each postural reflex is essential in order to form a strong foundation.

Postural assessment

Poor posture may be an indicator of neuro-biomechanical dysfunction and is important to be properly assessed in order to correct any imbalances – it is much easier to correct a problem as it develops rather than to leave it to accumulate poor movement patterns and compensations. Below is what a child's (and adult's) posture should look like:

From the back

• Head and neck straight (eyes on the horizon) and in line with the tailbone

• Shoulder height even on both sides, without rotation

• Waist and hips level on both sides, without rotation

From the side

• Ear in line with the middle of the shoulder (no chin jutting)

• Shoulders in line with hips

• Hips in line with knees and ankles

• Three natural curves of the spine

What contributes to poor posture?

It is difficult to narrow it down to one thing, however, lack of (or dislike of) the above postural reflexes may be a contributing factor. For example, tummy time is arguably the most important exercise that a baby can do. It develops their core strength (which every other movement from there on depends on), helps to form their neck curvature, stimulates the brain and contributes to proper muscle tone.

Restrictive or supportive gadgets may also be detrimental to development as they allow a child to perform a skill that they are not neurologically ready to achieve on their own, and may also limit their ability to practice doing it for themselves. For example, the use of a Bumbo seat allows a baby to sit unaided without the need to activate their core.

Technology is another culprit. Screen time results in the heavy weight of our heads, causing strain on the neck from the excessive looking down. If a child has a screen, they are usually immobile. Without movement, our brain doesn’t receive stimulation and muscle movement patterns do not get an opportunity to improve.

What can help?

• Gentle and specific care in order to remove any neuro-biomechnanical dysfunction

• Run, jump, climb, crawl, hop, roll, spin. Just move!

• Limit screen time. Also, try to break up the time that they use their screen consecutively. For example, instead of one hour solid screen time, break it up into 20-minute time slots spread throughout the day. Better yet, if they want 20 minutes of screen time, they must go outside and play for 20 minutes beforehand.

Hopefully that's useful, if you have any other questions feel free to ask next time you're in or give us a call.