School holiday injuries

School holidays are coming up and while that means a well-deserved break for our kids it also means an interruption to their daily routines. While every kid is different there are a few things to keep in mind over the school holiday period.

Physical activity

Being active has many advantages for kids not just physically but socially, intellectually and emotionally. Depending on the child, school holidays could either increase the amount activity they are participating in or decrease it. The current guidelines encourage kids to do 60minutes of moderate to vigorous activity daily! That doesn’t have to be all at once but can be broken up throughout the day. Great examples of this are; kicking a footy, dancing, swimming or just running around outside.

Posture

Postural advice can sometimes sound like a broken record. We’ve all been told to “sit up straight” or to “walk with our shoulders back” at one point or another. With the constant postural talk and advice it can be hard to know exactly what the ideal posture is.

As an old Uni lecturer use to say to us “your best posture is your next one”. There is no one posture that is best for everyone rather the changing of positions regularly that is important. Prolonged periods of sitting or standing are often when we start to feel pain and discomfort. This discomfort can be felt through the neck, upper back (thoracic), shoulders and lower back (lumbar).

Therefore the best thing we can do is encourage our kids to move regularly. If they’re sitting doing assignments or scrolling for hours encourage them to get up and go for a small walk every half hour or to change where or how they’re sitting.

Screen Time

Discussed frequently at the moment and closely related to posture is screen time! Current guidelines recommend no more than 2hours of screen time for kids 5-17. If you find your kids (or even yourself)spending lots of time on a screen it can be helpful to set alarms to encourage some movement.

Sleep

School holidays often mean a disruption in your child’s normal sleep routine. Did you know children between 5-13 years old are encouraged to have 9-11 hours uninterrupted sleep and 14-17 years old 8-10hours of uninterrupted sleep? Sleep is an important part of natural development! To promote good sleep encourage your kids to keep their same bedtime and to limit screen time in the hour before bed.

Physiotherapy involvement

If your kids are feeling pain that is limiting their ability to complete physical activity or are getting discomfort while in different positions it’s a good idea to see a physiotherapist. A physio can help address the issues causing pain, give postural advice and provide targeted exercises to strengthen weaknesses that may be driving the discomfort.

Call us on 97839990 to book an appointment!