{"id":15075,"date":"2019-04-03T11:36:05","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T16:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/?p=15075"},"modified":"2019-06-03T11:49:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T16:49:10","slug":"w-sitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/uncategorized\/w-sitting","title":{"rendered":"W sitting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What is W-Sitting?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A child is in a W-Sitting position when they are sitting on their bottom with both knees bent and their legs rotated away from the body<\/li>\n<li>If you stand above the child and look down, it looks like their legs are forming a \u201cW\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why do Kids W-Sit?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Children with <em>poor balance or weak abdominal, hip, and\/or trunk muscles<\/em> prefer this position because it offers a wider base of support, which is used as a compensatory strategy so that they do not have to work hard to activate their muscles during play<\/li>\n<li>It is very common for children to move in and out of this position when playing on the floor \u2013 however, the problem arises when the child chooses to sit like this for an extended amount of time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s the Problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increases risk of hip and leg muscles becoming short and tight \u2013 this negatively impacts coordination, balance, development of gross motor skills, and may lead to \u2018pigeon-toed\u2019 walking<\/li>\n<li>Can cause back, pelvis, and\/or joint pain<\/li>\n<li>Less core muscle activation is required to maintain the position \u2013 enforcing weak\/poor muscle development<\/li>\n<li>Delays development of a hand preference<\/li>\n<li>Limits ability to shift weight from side to side \u2013 this negatively impacts the development of balance reactions, ability to reach across the body to perform tasks that involve both hands, and ability to cross midline; this can negatively impact their ability to perform writing skills and other important school-related table top activities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Solutions to W-Sitting<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alternative ways to sit \u00e0 long sitting (legs out in front), side sitting (to either side), crisscross\/tailor sitting, tall kneel, or sitting on a low bench or stool<\/li>\n<li>Core muscle strengthening \u00e0 sitting on an exercise\/physio-ball, crawling through a tunnel, swimming, bouncing (hopscotch\/trampoline)<\/li>\n<li>Hip stretching \u00e0 butterfly, piriformis, child\u2019s pose<\/li>\n<li>Repetition and consistency with verbal cues \u2013 i.e. \u201cfix your legs\u201d or \u201ccriss-cross-applesauce\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Web Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Follow this link for more stretches, descriptions, and pictures: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.self.com\/gallery\/hip-stretches-your-body-really-needs-slideshow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.self.com\/gallery\/hip-stretches-your-body-really-needs-slideshow<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Follow this link for more core strengthening exercises: <a href=\"https:\/\/theinspiredtreehouse.com\/child-development-core-strengthening-for-kids\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/theinspiredtreehouse.com\/child-development-core-strengthening-for-kids\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Follow this link to see pictures of alternative sitting positions: <a href=\"https:\/\/pathways.org\/blog\/what-is-w-sitting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/pathways.org\/blog\/what-is-w-sitting\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Blog submitted by,<\/p>\n<p>Jay Manix, Occupational Therapy Intern<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is W-Sitting? A child is in a W-Sitting position when they are sitting on their bottom with both knees bent and their legs rotated away from the body If you stand above the child and look down, it looks like their legs are forming a \u201cW\u201d Why do Kids W-Sit? Children with poor balance&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[371,708],"class_list":["post-15075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-occupational-therapy","tag-w-sitting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/quadcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}