The typical kid today isn’t outside much, and most aren’t moving as they should even when indoors. They’ve developed awkward, uncoordinated movements as a result of being immobile, wearing modern footwear, and eating a highly processed and nutrient-devoid diet. It’s said that one in six kids today will either be born with or eventually be diagnosed with a development disorder. The developmental disorders range from sensory disorders like dyslexia, ADD, and autism to motor skill disorders like dyspraxia. These diagnoses are not only more prevalent today, but many “typical” kids have balance problems, weight issues, and generalized body weakness. Many kids never exercise at all, while others specialize in one sport during their childhood years.
Dysfunctional Problems in Kids Increasing
In my practice, I see a wide variety of people with a wide variety of problems: from a professional athlete with a knee injury to a kid with an ear infection or a woman with hot flashes. It’s not uncommon for me to see at least one kid a week with some type of movement disorder. Some of these kids are diagnosed with dyspraxia already, some are not. But the diagnosis never matters much, as it doesn’t address the problem; it just gives the problem a name. What’s certain is that a lot of kids move very poorly, and a lot don’t move much at all.
The average child today, who I will define as between the stages of walking and driving a car, is uncoordinated and simply inefficient at movement. Some of this is because they never developed properly, maybe because they were forced to walk too early to impress the grandparents at Christmas, or perhaps they were wearing shoes from their first few steps onward.
Then there are the kids who are really good at sports, but these kids are different today than when most of us grew up. Today, a kid finds a sport and sticks with it, often all 12 months of the year. They quickly become specialists in one sport, whether it be running, swimming, golf, baseball, or a host of others. At a time in their life when their body doesn’t just want but requires the development of various movement patterns, they isolate single (or several) movements depending on their one sport.
Specialization and Isolation = Modern-Day Rehabilitation
The kid who grows up playing just that one sport is going to increase his or her chances of an injury, as complex neurological and musculoskeletal patterns are never properly developed. But even worse are the kids who exercise because they have to due to some developmental disorder such as dyspraxia or hypotonia (low muscle tone). Most often, the therapist treating these kids recommends isolated, unnatural movements in an artificial environment rather than nervous system–stimulating outdoor exercises in a natural setting. Even worse, most of the kids are fitted for unnecessary foot orthotics, which further dampens their sensory system, resulting in diminished motor response.
As Erwan Le Corre notes in the second MovNat Principle, “Instinctual,” moving naturally is an innate behavior. If kids have never developed normal, natural, innate movement patterns, such as crawling, walking, jumping, climbing, etc., then their brain has yet to develop to its full potential at the current time in their life. Asking a child to take a therapy band and move it to strengthen their shoulder muscles or wear more supportive shoes while trying to balance is a desensitization of the nervous system, even if insurance pays for it.
MovNat Skills for Every Kid
So what’s a parent to do? My suggestion is to think about basic health and fitness principles. This is where MovNat skills, outdoor exercises, and principles fit beautifully.
First, have your child unshod as much as possible. Inside or out, unless foot protection is needed, lose the shoes. Where shoes are needed, think flat, firm, flexible, and wide. This means there is little to no heel (level footwear), there is no cushion or thick sole, the shoe is flexible throughout in every direction, and there is a wide toe box for the toes to naturally splay apart. Proper body awareness and position (proprioception) and sensory feedback into the nervous system (kinesthetic sense) cannot be achieved wearing modern footwear. Shoes distort important neurological patterns from being developed by the brain. Neurological input from body movements increases blood flow to the brain, which promotes the growth and development of speech, learning, and memory. These processes are impaired in the child wearing shoes. Shoes also disrupt gait, which isn’t good for any kid, especially one with a health problem.
Second, let your kid play. Hopefully, you don’t have to make them play, but at later stages in life, unfortunately, many kids don’t want to play or have lost the ability to play naturally (outside). If they’re just not sure how to run, climb, crawl, throw, lift, etc., then some instruction may be needed. If your child has a movement disorder, consider what can be gained by having them walk barefoot outside, crawl around (forward and backward), balance, and lift a manageable object and carry it a distance. I think that’s ideal rehab for the entire body and the entire nervous system. This isn’t to imply that you take your child’s rehab therapy into your own hands, but to accentuate that process, or perhaps prevent a problem before it starts.
Finally (although a healthy diet is essential, I will not discuss it here), reduce or eliminate artificial sensory stimulation in your child’s environment. The easiest and most effective way to do this is to limit TV and computer time. Not only are kids less active the more they watch TV and use a computer, but it also excites their nervous system, which, in turn, affects their focus and ultimately their motor system. (This is why a child with sensory issues has an “ism,” such as jumping or hand flapping when they are overstimulated.) I’ve seen some pretty amazing results in kids when the parents cut TV down to one half hour a day or, in some cases, altogether. Especially remove a TV or computer that is in your child’s bedroom, as it’s well known that they can negatively impact sleep, even if not actually on.
The overall idea here is that kids need to practice or relearn MovNat skills, as at one point in their life, most had the necessary locomotive and manipulative skills. Many of them have lost these basic principles at a young age, some due to health disorders, others because of modern-day life, and others due to sport specialization. You’ll see some pretty amazing changes in your barefoot-moving kid regardless of their current health or fitness level.
See also “Endurance Orientated MovNat Training” and also the full run-down of my five-day West Virginia workshop in 2011 here. Yeah it might be an old article, but the principles remain true.
