Motor Development

    Posted In: Other Topics

        • Participant
          Daniel Andrews on September 20, 2008 at 3:18 pm #14871

          I have a couple points of discussion and I don’t know if anyone will answer, but there seems to be at least 3 posters with infants or toddlers who might provide insight on these points.

          Toe-Walking infants and toddlers :

          What exactly is toe-walking and why is it bad?

          What causes toe-walking?

          Does it hurt future athletic performance?

          Barefoot walking infants and toddlers:

          Does walking barefoot as an infant and toddler promote good motor development and proper motor control?

          Does barefoot walking cause toe-walking?

          Clothing on an infant or toddler:

          Does demin and other coarse and hard clothing restrict, impair, or otherwise hurt motor development in infants, toddler, and young children?

          Does it hurt the infants ability to walk or crawl?

          Does it hurt the infants ability to coordinate movements later on?

        • Participant
          Daniel Andrews on September 20, 2008 at 4:45 pm #72532

          I have a couple points of discussion and I don’t know if anyone will answer, but there seems to be at least 3 posters with infants or toddlers who might provide insight on these points.

          [b]Toe-Walking infants and toddlers :[/b]

          What exactly is toe-walking and why is it bad?

          What causes toe-walking?

          Does it hurt future athletic performance?

          I ask because I am not quite sure I know exactly what it is and there seem to be varying degrees of it.

          [b]Barefoot walking infants and toddlers: [/b]

          Does walking barefoot as an infant and toddler promote good motor development and proper motor control?

          Does barefoot walking cause toe-walking?

          I asked this set of questions because i believe barefoot movements promote better motor development and motor control. My year old has been walking since about 10 months and 2 weeks when he took his first steps and just today we went to the park and went over many obstacles in a fort like structure all the time while barefoot. This included walking down a step without aid from dear old dad (unless I deemed it potential hazard if he fell). He also learned to go up a slide backwards about a month ago. Right now when many of his 9 cousins where either still only crawling or just starting to walk he’s been many months ahead of them in this area and the only difference is his dad keeps him out of shoes as much as possible (being a stay at home dad helps).

          [b]Clothing on an infant or toddler:[/b]

          Does demin and other coarse and hard clothing restrict, impair, or otherwise hurt motor development in infants, toddler, and young children?

          Does it hurt the infants ability to walk or crawl?

          Does it hurt the infants ability to coordinate movements later on?

          This question stems from the second set of questions as I don’t dress my infant in much clothing weather permitting compared to his kin. For the first 11 months of his life he had hardwood floors to negotiate and clothing just made it harder for him to move. Instead he rolled over and army (belly) crawled because more surface area gave him more traction. However, denim pants and other coarse clothing helped him move across the hardwood surface with a regular crawling motion although it was limited in range of motion even for an infant with very primitive movement patterns. I figured range of motion was more important than attempting to crawl with a limited range of motion until he had the strength and balance to move over the hardwood floor. The distinct difference is he would crawl normally when outside on grass, but on carpeted surfaces he still attempted to belly crawl during this stage. It was definitely a learning experience and it made me ponder a couple of things over that I previously observed.

        • Participant
          JeremyRichmond on September 21, 2008 at 11:18 pm #72578

          I’m sure it’s not exactly what you’re looking for but I have read research on increased activation of gluteals when walking barefoot (great foundation for the sportsmen). I’ve got the resource somewhere but don’t remember what it’s filed under. I know that Janda was a co-researcher. If you want it I’ll find it.

          Other than that, human movements with greater sensitivity in the feet lead to quicker reaction. It seems highly conceivable that a child growing up with increase sensitivity in the feet would have more highly adapted CNS. The motor programs could diminish over time with wearing of shoes but they will resurface upon implementation of a suitable training program that stimulates the CNS again.

          Again, I can find a bit more information for you on this but it is not comprehensive nor does it exactly answer the questions you put forward. I’ve even got stuff on toe-walking but it relates more to neurological behaviours in adults.

        • Participant
          Daniel Andrews on September 22, 2008 at 9:05 am #72585

          I’m sure it’s not exactly what you’re looking for but I have read research on increased activation of gluteals when walking barefoot (great foundation for the sportsmen). I’ve got the resource somewhere but don’t remember what it’s filed under. I know that Janda was a co-researcher. If you want it I’ll find it.

          Other than that, human movements with greater sensitivity in the feet lead to quicker reaction. It seems highly conceivable that a child growing up with increase sensitivity in the feet would have more highly adapted CNS. The motor programs could diminish over time with wearing of shoes but they will resurface upon implementation of a suitable training program that stimulates the CNS again.

          Again, I can find a bit more information for you on this but it is not comprehensive nor does it exactly answer the questions you put forward. I’ve even got stuff on toe-walking but it relates more to neurological behaviours in adults.

          Thanks, I’ll take any resources. I remember CFKA discussing toe-walking about 4-5 months ago or so in a thread, so I became somewhat interested in the topic. It’s not like my infant began development milestones ahead of time (most developed near the earliest it is expected), but certainly faster than those of his cousins whom all began in the middle or near the end of the expected time for a given development milestone. The biggest differences were in walking, crawling, and rolling over (movement related) and the closest ones are teeth coming in, height, weight, etc… all seem occur about the same time within a week or two and not 2 or 3 months.

          From the research I’ve read infants seem to start toe-toe walking but quickly move to heel-toe walking. I don’t believe my infant toe walked for more than 2 or 3 days. I realize continued toe walking can hinder overall development or is a sign of impeded development. I just wanted information on toe-walking because his closest cousins in age toe-walked for a period of time and still do on occasion.

        • Participant
          Nick Newman on September 22, 2008 at 9:29 am #72586

          i read an article written by a Russian long jump coach the other day and he said one aspect of identification criteria for a great long jumper was a child walking on his/her tip toes…funny right…

        • Member
          wisconman on September 22, 2008 at 10:27 am #72587

          Muhammad Ali said that he walked on his curled up toes when he was a baby and that is why he was so quick in the ring…

        • Participant
          Chris Sole on September 22, 2008 at 11:22 am #72590

          I think walking on toes is fairly common among jumpers. I’ve walked up on my toes my entire life. I’d like to think doing so has added to my success in the high jump. Nick Newman can attest to my extreme toe walking.

        • Participant
          Nick Newman on September 22, 2008 at 11:55 am #72591

          haha! Chris SOLEMAN Sole!!! what up boy

        • Participant
          Daniel Andrews on September 22, 2008 at 12:51 pm #72596

          I don’t think you understand, toe walking is considered bad as it is a sign of Cerebral Palsy (involuntary) or if persistent and voluntary it seems to delay speech/language development, gross motor skill development, and visomotor development. Hardly something anyone would want any child to suffer especially if it could be reversed and if it is caused by something as simple as how people dress there children it is something that can be easily addressed.

          curling of toes and walking on curled toes is a barefoot response to stimuli to grab a surface.

        • Participant
          Nick Newman on September 22, 2008 at 12:58 pm #72597

          ok, wasn’t about me understanding, i was just referencing a coach in an article i read.

        • Keymaster
          Mike Young on September 22, 2008 at 5:11 pm #72601

          Hey Chris! Welcome to ET.

          My daughter loves to toe walk. I think she’s gonna be a stud athlete (thanks to her mama). She’s a motor genius and unusually muscular…every now and then I think she might have the special mystoatin-blocker gene.

          ELITETRACK Founder

        • Participant
          Daniel Andrews on September 22, 2008 at 5:46 pm #72603

          So Mike do you disagree with the literature about toe-walking or was that a tongue in cheek response?

          I haven’t read anything good about toe-walking, but I also didn’t find anything that made me think it’s bad in 100% of the cases.

          BTW here’s CFKA’s blog on it:

          https://elitetrack.com/forums/viewthread/6798

        • Participant
          JeremyRichmond on September 22, 2008 at 11:09 pm #72607

          Talsnes 1992 says that toe-walking can be attributable to a congenital short calcaneus tendon in the abscence of an underlying disorder in children. It is probably inherited. Suggest you don’t look up the article unless you can read Norwegian.

          According to Baab 2008 toe-walking is a normal part of a child’s development but is considered abnormal when it persists past 2 years. They attribute toe-walking to congenital contracture of the Achilles tendon. My sister toe-walks (in her late 20’s) with no underlying disorder but only on one leg!?

          Funny enough as per another thread, I had to resort to toe-walking when no rehabilitation method improved my career destroying Achilles tendinosis. I recovered quick smart and am able to continue sprinting.

          Hope that helps. Was this the research you wanted help with?

        • Participant
          Daniel Andrews on September 23, 2008 at 1:42 am #72615

          Jeremy:

          Thanks, I think the research you just gave underscores some of the difficulties in assessing toe walking and its impact on motor development and overall development for a child. It’s certainly not the cause of some developmental problems, but likely is associated with them through some other means.

        • Participant
          Nick Newman on September 23, 2008 at 2:29 am #72617

          Mike, your daughter, will def be a super athlete, i thought so the first time i saw her. She is so advanced for her age…the skys the limit for her. Just remember to put her on a Russian “you have no choice” style program from age 5 and onwards and she’ll be great. lol. 🙂

        • Participant
          JeremyRichmond on September 24, 2008 at 12:24 am #72658

          Thought I would throw in a few more articles on toe-walking:

          Firstly Babb 2008 (previously incorrectly reported as Baab 2008)

          Other great research that is a bit more in depth in terms of motor development:
          Hirsch 2004 Acta Paediatrica 93(2):196-9
          Kerrigan 2000 Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 81(1):38-44
          Shulman 1997 Journal of Pediatrics 130(4):541-6
          Lundberg 1979 Neuropadriatre 10(2):161-82 (probably the best study)

          Quite interesting really when you see that lengthening the Achilles tendon can resolve the behaviour in adults. Let me know if you want more.

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