Sit ups - is a total inability to do a sit up significant?

[bochead]

Ok so DS (rising 8) has achieved many "physical milestones" recently, from hopping, to almost legible ginormous handwriting, to swinging himself in the park.

Is the fact he still can't do a sit up a sign of poor core strength or am I reading WAY too much into it and is there anything I can do to help him?

Bit of background context for those who know about these things:-

Sat up - 8 months.
Tummy wriggler - never crawled or even attempted bottom shuffling
Stood up - 17 months (holding onto chair)
Walked/first steps - 18 months (RAN 3 days later!).

He still seems to find it easier to run than to walk (summat noted by several professionals as it's amost as if "normal" walking pace is an effort). Always been VERY cautious about climbing playground equipment etc. He can't ride a bike, or catch or kick a ball. He's a very strong & athletic build nowadays as we have a fairly active/outdoorsy lifestyle compared to many inner city kids

I'm not sure. Can he do the abdominal crunches? Does he say specifically what part is the most difficult for him? Anything in particular causing him discomfort when he's doing them?

It's been far too long since I've done a sit up, so I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.

I think a sit up is an abdominal crunch?

You lie on your back, hands behind head, knees drawn up, feet flat on the floor close to your bottom. Then you lift your upper body so your nose touches your knees.

Cor you can tell I was more into snakebite than sports as a teen can't you

There are also abdominal crunches, where you don't go all the way up - just enough use the abdominal muscles, but not rolling far enough up to incur back problems.

This gives a bit of info on each. www.livestrong.com/article/441343-situps-vs-crunches/

Ah - that makes sense.

DS can barely manage to get his head & shoulders an inch off the floor.

Long way off an abdominal crunch imho.

Maybe OT or PT could give more info?

Triggles ds cannot do a 'sit up', he 'fast walks' everywhere, has difficult standing or sitting still, has to either run or spin around or lean on something, he cant ride a bike or doesnt like both feet leaving the ground. He cannot do buttons or zips or open a packet etc. His hand writing is effortful and slow.

OT says he has weak trunk muscles, poor body awareness, poor fine motor skills, he has hypermobility too.

DS2 has hypermobility as well. He struggles with those things too, claw4.

I've never actually tried to have him do a sit up. Not a clue if he could do one. (He's 5yo)

could it be that he has poor proprioception (sp?)
ds1 can't do a sit up and has poor proprioception.
I would say that he has good core strength though.

Sorry Triggles, i thought you had started this thread, doh! I should have addressed that to Bochead!

Never mind, ds is 8, he kind of goes over to one side and doesnt actually lift his head or shoulders off the floor, its a bit like, what i can only describe as a worm trying to do a sit up!

OT comments 'supine flexion - lying on back and curling body inwards/prone extension (they can bring their legs up to their chest, as well as lifting head and shoulders of the floor, so easier than a sit up) . He tended to fixate and overuse his neck muscles in this position. He has weakness within his trunk and therefore poor trunk stability'

Ds also has 'lordotic posture' a deep curve in the back near the waistline. This can cause weakness and/or overstretched abdominal muscles (it can also affect hamstring muscles, pelvis muscles and even the feet, as it tilts you forward and can cause other muscles to overcompensate too)

see...now I'm curious... I'll have to see tomorrow if DS2 can do a sit up.

I might injure myself trying to show him how, though.

Im not sure if a 5 year old should be able to do a sit up regardless of any disability, at age 5 to be honest.

I find with ds, he is late to develop a lot of skills, but thats not to say, he will never develop them, so dont be too concerned if your ds cant do a sit up.

As you say even adults can struggle, dont do it, have some cake instead, its far nicer and less effort

My dd is 8 she has ADHD and some other quirky traits she's very active dies footy and martial arts and excels at both. Is very muscular and has visible tummy muscles - BUT cannot do a sit up! They have to do them in her activites and she can't. I'm not worried I guess I never thought to much about it

I'd say it could have just as much to do with co-ordination as core body strength - you have to engage your muscles in the right way and in the right order and use an awful lot of different muscles to do a sit up effectively and safely. If you just try to wrench your body up, you'll hurt yourself even if you do manage it, and if you have specific areas of weakness and have overcompensated with overly strong muscles elsewhere, as a lot of people with poor co-ordination do, this will obviously make it even harder still to work out which muscles to use at which point.

Claw4 - your description decsribes my lad to a T.

DS is on the waiting list for RDA - hopefully that's good for both co-ordination & core body strength. I'm trying to get yoga into his school & he already does swimming & akido out of school.

His playground TA is a real diamond who rewards him with 10 mins on a go-kart, practices throwing beanbags etc with him approx 3 times a week. She's doing as much as any layperson can to encourage his physical development can I think.

There's not much more I can do to help his gross-motor skills generally is there?

I'm underwhelmed by the NHS OT he saw for sensory issues, so unless I go private at some point it'll prob remain a mystery.

You could ask the NHS OT to do some actual assessments. In my experience NHS OT dont like to do assessments, they just say 'difficulties' based on 'mum says'.

The report i quoted was a ind OT, if your school are good at giving help and following recommendations it might well be worth getting an ind OT to assess.

Mine assessed drawing and writing skills, visual perceptual skills ie eye hand coordinations, position in space, copying, visual closure etc, etc. fine and gross motor skills, postural tone and joint stability etc, etc and found difficulties in all areas.

She concludes that he needs direct input from a state registered OT with sensory integration training. A programme for daily integration of movement breaks and a programme to address all of the difficulties highlighted in the report. OT should train staff, staff have to be present at all OT sessions, OT to set IEP targets, etc, etc.

Sounds like the TA is doing a good job, given she has no training, nothing to work with etc.

It would very much depend on what difficulties your ds has with his gross motor skills, as to what exercises you could do.

Ds's school are refusing to give him the help OT recommended, so i dont actually have any programmes.

I have a general sensory diet for ds which anyone could follow, but that doesnt address gross motor skills, its more sensory.

If like ds, you would have to work on all areas of difficulties, working on just one is a bit counter productive, other than doing just general exercises that you are already doing.