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Children's Postural Alignment

2/16/2016

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Great video from 1920s that shows children with poor posture and explains the causes of certain postural imbalances and how to correct them. This film, called "Educated Feet: For Correct Posture", was made for the Beverly Hills United Schools to show how important posture education is for young children and how much positive impact it can have in a short time. 

​This video points out that good posture habits should be taught at a very early age just as reading, writing, counting, and math are. By age 5 when most children enter kindergarten, many children are already developing postural imbalances such as forward head posture, abducted and pronated feet, rounded shoulders and internally rotated arms, internal or external femur rotation, valgus or varus knees, anterior or posterior pelvic tilt, and thoracic kyphosis. 

What are the causes of postural alignment imbalances in children as young as 5? 
Many things including:
  • wearing stiff or restrictive shoes
  • excessive sitting
  • too much time spend looking down at electronics like iPads
  • limited physical activity
  • not enough variety of physical activity
  • mimicking posture and movement of adults

​What can we do to help children improve their posture and health?
  • encourage children to go barefoot as often as possible
  • when shoes are required, make sure they are flat, flexible, and widest at the ends of the toes
  • limit sitting and encourage movement often
  • limit time spend playing video games or using computers, tablets, and smartphones
  • take children on 20+ minute walks daily
  • take kids to the playground or park as often as possible for free play
  • practice good posture yourself to be a model for your children

Children's fitness levels have been declining with children today being 15% less fit than their parents generation were. There are many factors causing this decline in fitness, but I believe posture imbalances play a significant role. 

​
Along with implementing the suggestions above, here are several fun family workouts you can do as a entire family that will boost your fitness levels, improve your posture, and improve your overall health. 

Related articles/videos:
Benefits of running 5 miles per week
10 design perfection in the human body
Benefits of good posture
Why sitting is bad for you
The doctor's miracle drug: the exercise cure
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    About Matt Whitehead

    I'm an Egoscue Institute certified Postural Alignment Specialist (PAS) and Advanced Exercise Therapist (AET), certified personal trainer, PatchFitness performer, FiveFingers wearer, trail runner, mountain biker, dad, music lover, environmentalist, and wanna-be slam dunk champion. I will be providing you with the latest posture exercises to help you live, play, and be pain free.

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