As you may know Ash Creek Fitness is part of the Greater Bridgeport Obesity Task Force. We serve on the physical activity sub committee. At our most recent meeting the discussion centered around picking the "low hanging fruit." In other words, finding low - no cost, easy to implement tactics and strategies that we could use to start actively addressing the obesity epidemic. Our suggestion (Ash Creek) was to initiate a program in the Bridgeport School System that would use Z health (http://www.zhealth.net/) Neural Warm Up as a supplemental physical activity.
The big question centered around whether Z Health Dynamic Joint Mobility training would improve CT Mastery test scores. The short answer is "YES!!!" We have been using Z Health Dynamic Joint Mobility drills as an integral part of our programming and have experienced incredible results in a very wide range of clients - from special needs to performance athletes, and from primary grades through the University Level. For Dr. Cobb's version please read the excerpt from the September Z Health News Letter - Stay Safe - George
The following is copied from the Z Health September News Letter. For additional information please check out - http://www.zhealth.net/
SEPTEMBER 2011
Movement Nourishes the Brain
If you are a parent, you are all too familiar with the developmental milestones your children went, or are going, through. Infant and toddler check-ups include observing levels of movement, fine and gross motor skills, and cognitive development - among many other things.Pediatricians pay a great deal of attention to these milestones, because missing a milestone by any significant amount can be indicative of any of a large number of developmental disorders.
While a seemingly vague statement above, the reality is that poor motor skills is oftentimes one of the first indicators that something is wrong in a child - and addressing those missing skills can also be one of the most helpful things you can do as a parent.
The Movement / Developmental Disability Relationship
One of the most common names given to the motor skill deficit is hypotonia. While this generalized term covers a wide variety of related symptoms, the common mechanism at work is that the signals from the brain that travel through the motor nerve to the muscles are somehow disrupted. You can think of it as a bad internet or cable connection - you get pixilated or choppy reception. The same thing happens in our body.Known Conditions
The list of known conditions is extensive, and growing every day. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke lists the causes to include: trauma, environmental factors, or by genetic, muscle, or central nervous system disorders, such as Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, Prader-Willi syndrome, myotonic dystrophy, and Tay-Sachs disease.In addition to that alphabet soup of conditions thought to lead to motor skill deficits, just last week the University of London released a study indicating that poor movement skills detected in children as young as 7 months are at greater risk for autism than the general population.
"Nature Abhors a Vaccum"
This famous quote, believed to first be uttered by Aristotle, also gives us one of the best-known answers.Movement.
Study after study shows that improving motor skill performance is the best way to help the children (and adults) with these conditions. The movement practice not only helps shore up the missing motor skills but also improves cognitive performance.
Or, as John Ratey, author of the bestselling book SPARK likes to say, "exercise is Miracle-Gro for the brain."
For More Information
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and StrokeHypotonia (wikipedia definition)
New Insights Into the Implications of Autism Onset Patterns
Poorer Movement Skills at Seven Months in Children at Risk of Autism, Study Finds
Green, Dido, Tony Charman, Andrew Pickles, Susie Chandler, Tom Loucas, Emily Simonoff, and Gillian Baird. "Impairment in Movement Skills of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders." Developmental medicine and child neurology 51, no. 4 (2009): doi:10.1111/j.1469-8749.2008.
Vuijk, P J, E Hartman, E Scherder, and C Visscher. "Motor Performance of Children with Mild Intellectual Disability and Borderline Intellectual Functioning." Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR 54, no. 11 (2010): doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.
Sorsdahl, Anne Brit, Rolf Moe-Nilssen, Helga K Kaale, Jannike Rieber, and Liv Inger Strand. "Change in Basic Motor Abilities, Quality of Movement and Everyday Activities Following Intensive, Goal-Directed, Activity-Focused Physiotherapy in a Group Setting for Children with Cerebral Palsy." BMC pediatrics 10 (2010): doi:10.1186/1471-2431-10-26.
Peters, Lieke H J, Carel G B Maathuis, and Mijna Hadders-Algra. "Limited Motor Performance and Minor Neurological Dysfunction at School Age." Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) 100, no. 2 (2011): doi:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2010.
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