by Helena Read | Aug 10, 2016 | Wellness |
The Benefits of Crawling Are you ever too old to crawl? Let’s find out… My fascination with crawling began when my first-born began to roll, reach, stretch and find his own way towards movement on all fours and crawling. As a dancer and massage therapist I could scarce pull my eyes away from this miracle of movement unfolding in front of my eyes. The dynamic combination of determination, push and yield that I witnessed, running throughout his whole body, has fuelled my own exploration of crawling, and an ongoing inquiry to its wellbeing benefits. In this article I will share some of my passion for this simple and profoundly effective method for regaining original strength, as well as a little of the science. A baby’s determination to crawl is initiated by 4 billion years of human evolution coupled with profound curiosity. In the case of my son, this curiosity often took the form of our cat; though anything that lay in easy eyesight and just out of reach would do. This movement of reach is made possible by the dynamic force of push that comes from an opposite limb, often on the diagonal, sometimes on the same side of the body. The push and pull would start with the extremity of toes, fingers, elbows or knees gaining traction on the surface beneath them, and lead to a rocking movement that would gradually provide the momentum for progress towards the said attractive object. Integral to this push is a movement of yield, when the opposing muscles soften. This allows the spine to arch and become a spring of rocking movement,...
