Standing Straight and Tall

Posture is something I am constantly working on with the kids I see and something I’m noticing more and more often is a posture that is common for some of my kids with lower muscle tone.  They will often stand and literally just hang out on their bones.  They aren’t using their muscles to help with standing hardly at all.  What this ends up looking like is:  pronated (or flat) feet, hyperextended knees (and possibly the knees coming in at an angle so they meet in the middle), belly sticking out with an increased arch in the low back, their shoulder blades in an almost winged position and a head that is shifted forward.  *the image to the right is the closest representation I could find to give you a picture*

I have done lots of strengthening and postural re-education with these kiddos using kinesiotape, thera-togs and shoe inserts to help out as their body re-learns how to utilize their muscles to create a different alignment.  However, I recently stumbled on a tool that may help as well.  I used a clavicle brace on a kiddo and not only did it help him keep his shoulders back, he also was utilizing his abdominals more.  If you looked at him from a side view his trunk went from looking like an S to more straight up and down.  The down side is the brace moves around some and it felt to him like it was pushing his head and neck forward so we’re working on that however the carryover even after he stopped wearing it was great.  Now keep in mind that this is the first kiddo I’ve tried this on but I’m interested to continue trying this to see if it provides the appropriate feedback for other kids to allow for carryover and improved posture.

Now, what I’m getting at is that when he was forced to keep his shoulders and shoulder blades back it helped to kick in his abdominals automatically because it was harder to ‘hang out’ in standing and his muscles were actually forced to work!

What are some tools and tricks you have used to help with posture?