Weak Muscles and Compensatory Movements

Have you ever witnessed an adult with arthritic hips or knees that walk with a gimp, favors to one side or maybe walks in an unusual way? Do you understand why this occurs? It is because they are using accessory muscles in place of muscles that are normally used for that movement. Granted these people are compensating because of pain but the concept also applies to weak muscles. And this is a problem that children with Down syndrome face. While it is true that our kids will eventually learn to sit up, walk, run, etc., it is important that they learn to use the correct muscles for that particular exercise. You see, our bodies were made to operate efficiently whether it be to walk, run, ride a bicycle or whatever we do. For a child that has weakness of a particular muscle, he/she learns to perform the exercise using different muscles and therefore bypass having to use the weak ones.

While it is a temptation to allow the learned movements as wrong as they may be for the sake of meeting the milestone, we must resist doing this. While it is important to give praise for learning a new skill, it is also important to teach the correct pattern of the particular skill.

A few compensatory movements to watch for with children with Down syndrome are standing or walking with their feet and hips pointed toward the outside. This is called rotating the hips externally. Another compensatory movement is sitting with the lower back bowed outward. Having stiff knees is another way that these children compensate for weakness.

All of us as parents desire for our kids to meet milestones and are very happy when they are accomplished. But at the same time, we need to be aware of the correct way to move and the correct muscles that are used to produce that movement. This is where a trained Physical Therapist can help. They can assist the child in learning to use the correct muscle/s. After all, I think that we would all rather have our children learn to perform the movement in the correct way even if it takes longer vs. learning the movement incorrectly sooner. Learning to use the correct muscles for the exercise will benefit the child throughout life.

So I would encourage you to ask questions of your Therapist so that you can look for these movements during non-therapy times. One of the most difficult things to overcome is a child who has already built a habit of compensating.

Thoughts From A Stay-at-home Dad

Let me just begin by stating that I have a new found respect for all of you stay-at-home Moms out there. It can be physically, emotionally and psychologically challenging which we husbands sometimes do not understand much less give allowances for that. Well, I am learning about all of those things and I want to share them here as an encouragement to other stay-at-home Dads.

As with a lot of men, I have grown up with the ideology of the man being the bread-winner. This message is heard loudly in Christian communities yet is communicated in other areas of society. It is just presumed that the man has his career which consists of getting up every morning, going to work till 5:00 or 6:00 while the Mom takes care of driving the bus for the family. This thinking is confirmed to me when I pick my children up from school and see all of the Moms in line there. The movie Mr. Mom comes to mind although I am not so far removed from dropping off and picking up my kids from school that I have driven the wrong way in line. I have however, been guilty of dressing John inappropriately for the weather, left him in a dirty diaper longer than should have been or squirting snot back into his face with the bulb syringe. I have learned over the years of kids that mistakes are just the nature of the game.

The mistakes, the physical demands of being at home are not a problem for me. Heck, I think my wife will admit that I can clean a house better and faster than she (thank you Mom). But the emotional and psychological games that a stay-at-home Dad goes through is difficult at times, especially when he thinks he is not serving his family in the capacity he thinks he should.

Swapping daily activity at a paying job to the daily activity of changing diapers, feeding baby, doing housework, etc can be hard on the ego and difficult to navigate for us men but I am trying to resign myself to the fact that this is where I am needed at right now to best serve my family. I have read and believe that we men are looked upon to lead our home but being leader doesn't mean just being the bread-winner for the family. By being at home, I am better able to have a meaningful, influential role in the life of my kids not to mention being able to give John a head start in life that he probably would not get anywhere else.

Don't misunderstand, I very much enjoy having John to myself all day as there is a bond that is being created between us that will serve us both well in the future. But there are days where I miss being out there doing Physical Therapy and relating with people who can actually talk back in a language I understand not to mention making money.

I often remind myself that this is not my lot in life for the rest of my life, just my lot in life for right now. To all of you stay-at-home Dad's out there - more power to you. You have an opportunity with your kids that will have lasting benefits. May our experience help us to be more sensitive to our wives/other Mom's who do this daily and have done this longer than we have.

In light of this post, a post has been set up that asks for the opinions of men and women toward SAHD. Your vote and opinion is greatly appreciated. I must say that writing this post as has writing other posts has been a good outlet for me away from John for a while.

BTW, John had recovered from the mashed potatoes Dad fed him by around 12:00. It just made for a long evening. I will be staying with the single-ingredient foods from now on.

Caution!

Here we are at 10:00p.m. and we are all ready to go to bed, except John that is. He is wide awake with the belly rumbles. He has spit up on everyone that has held him and then spit up on the floor after my daughter put him down in order to clean herself from his spit-up which just grosses her out and she is ready to hand him off real fast.

This isn't John's typical night. He is usually in bed by now and sleeps until 6:00a.m.. But tonight, Dad messed things up by feeding his boy mashed potatoes for supper. Hey, before you tell me how smart that was, let me tell you that he was enjoying them very much. After tonight though, I think we will hold off on table food just a while longer.

So just a word to the wise - don't feed your baby table food at 4 1/2 months unless you want to wear it.

P.S. He is still smiling at me though.


Goodnight and thanks for reading.