5 Ways to do Heavy Work at Home
What is heavy work and how can it help my child? We are happy to have Ms. Kaitlyn back on the blog today to talk about the concept of heavy work and all the benefits it can provide for your child! Read on for some practical suggestions that can be easily incorporated into your day.
If you’re a part of the pediatric therapy world, it’s likely that you’ve heard the term “heavy work.” It’s frequently used in therapy sessions and is often prescribed as part of a home program. But what exactly is heavy work, and why is your OT raving about it all the time?
Heavy work is all the rage in the therapy world because of its impacts on regulation and attention. Heavy work refers to activities that provide proprioceptive input to the body.
Proprioceptive tasks activate your body’s proprioceptors, which are sensory receptors in your joints and muscles that receive feedback when your body moves. Proprioceptive input helps us to know where our body is in space and what our body is doing. The more you learn about proprioception, the more it makes sense that it can have a great impact on regulation.
Think about it… if you don’t know where your limbs are or how much force you are using, it can be quite challenging to sit still, pay attention, or feel calm! Deep pressure input to our proprioceptors is typically calming to the sensory system and can have significant effects on regulation and attention.
Heavy work within therapy sessions involves proprioceptive activities that provide some kind of pushing or pulling resistance to the body. It can be done with body weight activities or with weighted objects. However, doing these things once or twice weekly in therapy sessions alone won’t yield long-lasting results — we need you to do them at home, too!
Here are a few simple, at-home ways to implement heavy work with your kiddo (or for yourself… heavy work can be regulatory for adults, too)!
Obstacle courses — climb over boxes, crawl under coffee tables, crash onto the couch cushions
Animal walks — crawl like a bear, jump like a frog, walk like a crab
Body weight exercises — wall pushups, planks, jumping jacks
Yoga — weight-bearing poses such as downward dog (there are lots of fun yoga cards for kids online!)
Chores — push and pull the vacuum, carry the laundry basket, unload groceries from the car, water plants with a watering can
Give some of these a try with your active kiddo! If you think your child could benefit from an individualized program, we’d love to help — don’t hesitate to reach out!
Thank you Kaitlyn!! Have questions about how occupational therapy could benefit for your child? Contact us today!
