Playing on the Floor - Not Just for Kids!

The phrase “tummy time” may ring some bells for all you parents and grandparents out there (wacky aunts and uncles too!). We know babies need time spent on their stomachs in order to develop the muscles for lifting their heads, turning over, and eventually getting up off the floor to run the rest of us ragged chasing after them. How do they develop these muscles? Practice!

Adults may be way past this stage of needing to develop their postural neck muscles, but our bodies – at any age – benefit from the muscle strength, flexibility, and balance required to get down on–and then get back up from–the floor. Most kids and young adults will get up and down from the floor without thinking twice, but it is typical for aging adults of many cultures (though not all) to begin to self-limit their access to the floor. This can happen for many reasons including:

• Lack of practice (“Why sit on the floor – that’s what I have good chairs and a couch for!”)
• Fear of discomfort or pain (“My knees don’t bend that way anymore”)
• Orthopedic precautions (“My surgeon told me I could never kneel on this artificial knee”)
• Fear of not being able to get back up

These are certainly understandable reasons why folks may be limiting their time spent on the floor – you may not even realize these thoughts have been holding you back from doing so, and it’s always worth it to talk to your doctor or surgeon if you have real worries about safety or past orthopedic procedures.

But why is it even important at all that we keep this skill as a part of our “movement toolbox”? Aside from the idea that keeping that strength, flexibility, and balance needed for this fundamental movement task has been shown to support overall health, wellness, and even longevity, there are other task-oriented benefits to being able to get up and down:

• Continuing enjoyable hobbies, i.e. car maintenance, yoga/pilates, gardening
• Picking up dropped items (don’t lose another TV remote under the couch)
• Playing with those grandkids!
• **Getting up from an unanticipated slip/fall

**This last one is important. While not all of us choose activities like gardening or playing on the floor with kids (maybe you’ve even perfected the art of the “golfer’s pick up” to avoid needing to bend those knees to get items from the floor), most of us at one time or another are going to take one or more spills to the floor in our lifetime – and then will need to get back up! The CDC currently tracks that 1 in 4 adults age 65 and older report falling every year.

We could spend a lot of time talking about the how of getting up and down from the floor, but for today, the main message is this: if you can do it (safely!), do it every day! If you can’t currently transfer or move your body to and from the floor safely, contact your local trusted physical therapist to help you regain mastery of this precious skill.

Contributed by Caitlin Steeves, PT, DPT