Exercise 19: 1.5 years - 3 years: Obstacle course

Obstacle course

A simple exercise to encourage hip flexion. The exercise is aimed at children between 1.5 – 3 years, but can also be used by older individuals if the movement needs to be trained. For this exercise, tape or poles are needed.

Description

In this exercise, lay out obstacles on the floor that the child should cross. The distance between the obstacles should be based on the child’s length of step and positioned so that the child does not have to take additional steps between the obstacles. The obstacles can be taped lines on the floor but to make the exercise more difficult the obstacle can be raised – for example by laying out poles on the floor. A tip to make the exercise a bit more fun is to let the child pick up toys and then put them down on the other side of the obstacle course. Remember to have lower obstacles to achieve hip flexion specifically. If an obstacle is too high, it can make the child prefer to lift her/his legs using muscles on the outside of her/his thighs.