PT Corner: Weight Shifting and Trunk Elongation
[Source: Starfish Therapies]
We have been working on walking with some kids that are working on improving their weight shifting and all the mechanics that go with that. Many of them have hip weakness which we are addressing but we are also looking at other areas to address as well. With the hip weakness you can often see a trendelenberg pattern (when their hip drops on the leg they pick up to take a step with). One way kids counteract this is to lean their trunk towards the side that they are standing on when they pick up their other foot to take a step. This provides them some hip stability but it decreases their efficiency and increases their energy utilization because they now are actively moving their trunk side to side with every step. It also makes it harder to fix on a target when walking and can cause path deviation.
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