20 Jan Been told that your child has low muscle tone causing their delay in gross motor skills

Wondering “Does having low muscle tone mean that my child can’t walk?”

Gross motor skills are important for children’s health and development. Delays in these skills are a concern for healthy developmental trajectories and therefore early identification of delay is important. A 2020 Australian study showed 4.4% of the children in the study were delayed in gross motor skills and 8.8% were at risk of delay.

Here at My Favourite Physio, our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists see many children who are delayed in their gross motor skills and one of the most common questions parents ask is “Will my child with low muscle tone be able to walk?” Every child is different and we carry out a full assessment on each child to determine their strengths and weakness, and usually we are able to help children with low muscle tone achieve independent walking without any aids.

Here are the 3 Principles behind how we help our little ones learn to walk
1. Early Intervention. The sooner a child is seen by an Expert Paediatric Physiotherapist for an assessment and Early Intervention, the better their outcomes will be.

2. The Sequence of Gross Motor Skills learned matters. It is important to teach the basic foundations of movement beginning with head and neck control, core strength, and then shoulder and hip control to allow baby to learn to roll, sit, crawl, pull to stand and walk. Missing any step often leads to adaptive movement patterns.

3. Practice, practice, practice. Intensive and frequent practice each day is required for the brain to learn new movement patterns which eventually becomes ingrained in muscle memory, allowing babies learn to walk. We recommend babies have 2 hours a day of Tummy Time play, as well as a minimum of weekly Paediatric Physiotherapy in order to achieve their goal of walking without aids sooner.

If you are concerned about your child’s gross motor skills, ring My Favourite Physio on (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists today. Find out how we can help your child move better today!