13 Shoulder Stability, Arm and Hand Strengthening Exercises for Children with Down Syndrome

Pushing up through arms and hands is a great way to develop shoulder and elbow stability. It also helps our hands form the arches we need to do intricate movements with our fingers and hands. Therefore this is a hugely important skill for our children to practice.

1. Help your child onto a roll or a wedge with their hands on the ground and their shoulders over their hands.  Use cushions or your leg if you don’t have a roll or wedge at home. Try to encourage your child to lift their head, which will in turn make them push through their hands. Books or TV are great motivators for this activity.

2. To progress this, encourage play in this position so they lift one hand. This could be helping to turn a page of a book or playing with a ball.

3. If they manage this then move them further forward over the roll or wedge (or cushions) so that more of their weight comes over their hands. Try lifting a hand again for play.

This is a fabulous position to work shoulders and arms. This position should be attempted once your child can push up fully on their arms in tummy time.

Hands and knees is an essential step towards crawling which is the ‘gold standard’ for building shoulder stability and arms strength.

Start with your child on hands and knees over your leg (with your leg going between their two hands and their two legs. Use the narrower part of your leg if they are too small to reach over your thighs.

1. Encourage them to push through their hands to look up.

2. Next try to lift one hand to play.

3. If they are confident at this, move their whole body further forward over your leg so they have more weight over their arms.

4. Try to lift one hand again.

5. Move them further forward again and lift one hand again.

6. One they can mange this, try the kneeling position but with their bottoms sat down on their heels so they don’t have so much weight on their hands.

7. Try lifting one hand again.

8. Now bring their body a little more forward so they have more weight going through their hands. Can they lift a hand here?

9. When they seem strong enough, bring their weight forward so that their shoulders are right over their shoulders and their hips are fully over their knees. Try balancing here and eventually lifting one arm to play.

10. Our children may try and compensate by dropping their tummies so pass toys under their tummy so they have to lift it up, or poke them upwards in their tummy to encourage them to lift it. This is much better for their core stability.

This is a brilliant activity for the legs and pelvis but it is also fantastic for core and shoulder stability.

Our children need to be able to hold their hands and knees position with confidence and be able to lift one arm before they try to crawl.

1. Once your child can lift one arm in hands and knees, move a toy just out of reach in front of them to encourage them to reach forward. Help them at their legs to bring one knee forward as they move the opposite hand forward so they don’t shoot forward at their hips.

2. Repeat this with the other hand/ foot until they start to move forward on their own.

3. It may be easiest to practice this with them sitting back on their heels again until they are more confident.

4. Once they can crawl forward confidently, put obstacles in their way for them to crawl around or over.

5. Use slopes or uneven surfaces (like grass) to challenge them further.

6. When they are crawling confidently, try crawling up the stairs. Let them reach up with their hands while you give them a little help with their legs.

1. 

   On their hands and knees, encourage your child to reach one arm straight out in front of them in the air. You can challenge them to balance a beanbag or soft toy on the back of their hand to keep it up. Try and hold for 20 seconds.

2. Now see if they can lift one leg straight out behind them. Try and hold this for 20 seconds.

3. Can they do an opposite arm and leg at the same time and hold it for 20 seconds? This will challenge their shoulder, elbow and hands stability muscles.

4. Try the other side.

5. Now try and lift one leg straight out behind them, holding for one minute this time.

6. Repeat the above activities again but holding for one minute. 

Wheelbarrow walking is incredibly challenging but brilliant for our children. Not only does it strengthen the core but it is also brilliant for shoulder and arm stability – essential for good fine motor skills – which can be problematic for children with DS. As it is so challenging, try to give more support rather than moving down this sequence too quickly as they may give up too quickly if it is far too hard for them. If you can get to number 5 by the time they are 10 years old, they should have fantastic shoulder stability and core which will stand them in great stead for the future.

1. Hold your child by their hips with their legs straddling you and their hands on the floor. Move around the floor picking up objects for as far as you can go. 

2. Move your hands down to your child’s knees and walk around the room – picking up objects or playing a matching game or skittles. 

3. If you can, hold your child by their ankles. Make sure they keep their bottom in the air and don’t hang their tummy down. Again find a game to make this more entertaining.  

4. As your child gets stronger you could try to get from one end of the house to another – you can even try going up the stairs. 

5. You could also make an obstacle course to go around.

1. Any climbing using hands will be good for hand and shoulder strength and stability. This includes climbing on furniture or up the stairs. The more weight which goes through the arms, the better.

2. The most challenging activity is hanging on a bar or going along monkey bars. Try getting your child to hang off a door (supervised of course) or your hands if you don’t have access to a bar to hang from.