Six-year-old bad posture - should I be concerned?

[AFlashOfLight]

Just looking for any words of wisdom or experience of bad posture in a 6 year old. My DD’s natural standing position is with a very arched back, with hips and tummy thrust out. She still has a big protuberant belly like a baby or toddler does. I’ve noticed that the other children in her class all seem to have lost this by now and have flat tummies. (It’s definitely bad posture and not a chubby belly, she’s slim and active and around the 50th centile for weight and height).
She has an extremely flexible back - can practically fold herself in two while doing a bridge- which I feel is related. I think she has less core strength than most children her age, maybe because she’s hyperflexible.
She’s been doing ballet twice a week and swimming once a week for years, but so far they don’t seem to have made a difference.
I just wondered if other people had children who had bad posture at this age, and whether it was something we needed to address or whether it would just sort itself out as she grows.
Thanks in advance for any insight!

Bump!

I would suggest looking into core strength exercises. Maybe ask for a physio referral from GP but not sure how easy they are to get. I work in schools and the core strength is getting worded. Some children can’t sit on the carpet without leaning on something or lying down. I took a group of kids to an outdoor place the other day and noticed when on roller skates they all became floppy and required 2 adults to help them stand yet when they were in shoes they were running about. Definitely a core strength issue.

Maybe get a yoga ball for her to sit on when watching tv or at the table for short periods of time. You could probably google some suitable core strength exercise. I’d assume ballet would potentially work on core strength but maybe it depends on the level. Swimming I can see less so.

Edited to at that you could check out if she has hypermobility seeing as she is flexible. This can make it twice as hard for her to keep up positions during exercise as body needs to work harder to feel the resistance. So it’s possibly harder to stabilise her core. My DD has issues with her joints and stability when writing and also her ankles.

It could be related to her hypermobility, especially if she’s very flexible and has less core stability, but I’d mention it to your GP or a paediatric physio just to be sure. They can assess her posture, joints and muscle strength and let you know whether she needs any specific exercises or support. Children’s posture can change quite a lot as they grow, so it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem.

Thanks for the replies. I did mention it to a GP at a check up a while ago and they weren't concerned, but I feel maybe it's more of an issue now because she should have grown out of it.
She doesn't seem to be hypermobile in all joints, just in her back. (my husband was apparently the same as a child). I think a lot of it may be habit as much as actual weakness, because she's perfectly able to sit/climb/skate etc, but when she's not thinking about it she slouches into this hyper arched back position. She did it today when she was standing up doing her violin practice, and her tummy was sticking out like a woman 8 months pregnant 🙈.
I might mention it to her ballet teacher and see what she thinks (she's had 30 years of experience teaching kids to stand up straight so I suppose she'll know if there's a problem!), and then look into some paediatric physio.

Sounds like anterior pelvic tilt which is incredibly common with hypermobility. Hypermobility doesn't equal flexibility, it equals joint instability. The muscles can either be looser or be incredibly tight as they are overworking trying to stabilise the joint themselves. A hypermobile individual can have some very flexible areas and some very tight areas. Or just flexible/just tight areas.
I'm not sure how worrying her degree of pelvic tilt is at 6 (a paediatric physio would know). It does make it very difficult to switch on the core muscles and for ballet it makes it impossible to turn out properly. It might be worth seeing a paediatric physio or just anyone who works with paediatric musculoskeletal stuff.

Thank you, that's very useful.

Look at hypermobility EDS and anterior/posterior tilts. If she gets "growing pains " don't ignore this..they are not normal.

She does get growing pains quite often in her legs 😕😕. Both my husband and I suffered from them growing up so we actually did think they were normal...
Are they a sign of some misalignment? I'll definitely check out those conditions, thanks.

My 6 y.o. son has recently seen a nutritionist who thinks he's got Hypermobility because he has a bend in his back and a slightly sticky out tummy. He is also uncoordinated, skinny and lacking in core strength so I thought maybe he's dyspraxic but I've been told these are signs of hypermobility. I was shocked as his knees and elbows don't bend the 'wrong way' and he isn't particularly flexible which is what I thought hypermobility was. It can also give them tummy troubles, which in turn can make them fussy eaters (hence why we were seeing the nutritionist). There are things you can do to help your daughter so don't panic, but don't let your GP fob you off.

How is her writing? My son (8) was recently seen by an occupational therapist for hand writing struggles and she thinks it's due to a weak core and weak shoulders, he's got exercises to do at school to try and help.