You may have heard your child\u2019s SLP repeatedly tell your child \u201cCriss-Cross Applesauce\u201d.\u00a0 But why?\u00a0 What was likely happening was that your child was using a \u201cW\u201d sitting posture.\u00a0 This sitting position is when a child\u2019s bottom is planted between the feet.\u00a0 When you look at the child\u2019s legs, they form a \u201cW\u201d.\u00a0 Many children sit this way during play, but according to Advance Magazine for Physical Therapists, it should be corrected whenever observed.<\/p>\n
First, this type of posture can lead to orthopedic concerns.\u00a0 \u201cW\u201d posture leads to an extreme rotation of the hips.\u00a0 This could lead to future hip dislocation, particularly if the child already has hip dysplasia.\u00a0 \u201cW\u201d-sitting posture can also worse pre-existing conditions, such as placing muscle groups in shortened positions.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, according to Advance magazine, when a child utilizes a \u201cW\u201d-sitting posture, they are not using their trunk muscles.\u00a0 This means the trunk isn\u2019t challenged to stabilize itself (think of sitting on an exercise ball versus the floor as an adult), which then means balance may be slower to develop.\u00a0 Additionally, with this position, a child does not need to use trunk rotation or side-to-side weight shifting, which can lead to avoidance of midline orientation.\u00a0 Generally, children will bring their hands together at midline to manipulate objects; however, when utilizing a \u201cW\u201d-sitting posture, the right hand tends to stay on the right side of the body.\u00a0 The same is true for the left hand.\u00a0 This disrupts bilateral hand use and the development of future hand preference.\u00a0 Additionally, children often will not cross mid-line because they do not need to shift their weight or use their trunk muscles to rotate toward that favorite toy.<\/p>\n
Well, now for the big questions: what to do?\u00a0 Prevention is best, so if you see a child about to \u2018W\u201d-sit, try to prevent it.\u00a0 If it\u2019s already happened, then try change the position immediately.\u00a0 Often, a simple \u201cCriss-Cross Applesauce\u201d will cue the child into changing the position.\u00a0 If you are frequently observing \u201cW\u201d-sitting posture, you may wish to consult a physical therapist for additional information.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You may have heard your child\u2019s SLP repeatedly tell your child \u201cCriss-Cross Applesauce\u201d.\u00a0 But why?\u00a0 What was likely happening was that your child was using a \u201cW\u201d sitting posture.\u00a0 This sitting position is when a child\u2019s bottom is planted between the feet.\u00a0 When you look at the child\u2019s legs, they form a \u201cW\u201d.\u00a0 Many children…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Criss-Cross Applesauce: \"W\"-sitting Posture","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","schema":"","fname":"","lname":"","position":"","credentials":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84,27],"tags":[843,844,845,846,847],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}