Day 4 Shifting Weight on all Fours
In this lesson, we will adapt a movement you already practiced into a more complex movement.
Remember
- Put your child to all fours - either by helping it to come upon all fours or by helping it to lie on a pillow with the belly, with the knees bent at a 90° angle, the knees resting firmly on the ground.
- Put your hand a the sides of the pelvis and move it right and left. Usually, the leg the pelvis moves more easily away from is lifting easier (Think about standing leg vs. walking).
- Watch which side your child is looking to. If it looks to the right, start lifting that knee.
- Glide with your hands under the child`s knees so that the knee is resting in your palm. Gently try to lift it a tiny bit, in a way that the leg moves the hip - straight up or in slight variations. You are looking for a movement that travels up the spine, not for a large movement in the hip joint!
- Try the other leg, then work on the leg/knee that lifts easier.
- Lift the knee a tiny bit with one hand while putting the fingers lightly next to the thoracic spine. See what movement you can feel there. Gently help the vertebrae move a little bit, rotating away from the knee. This is the movement you already did in week 3, day 2 "small rotations of the spine".
- Repeat with the other leg.
- If your child is able to stand on all fours with long arms, you can lift the hands. If that is difficult, it is just as effective to lift the elbows. The head can hang. Help to stabilize the knees with a rolled blanket under the roller. Sit at the head of the child.
- Again, feel with your other hand for the rotation of the spine.