Crawling for Adults

Crawling: A Simple Yet Profound Exercise

I’d like to introduce you to a small, practical exercise that might seem simple but holds immense value for our physical well-being: crawling.

Crawling is one of the earliest and most essential movements we master as humans, right after breathing and sucking. It’s a fundamental part of our development, laying the groundwork for coordination, strength, and mobility. Yet, 99% of adults today—especially in our modern, post-industrial society—have forgotten how to do it properly. In fact, crawling is often dismissed as something only infants or children do, or worse, it’s seen as a sign of regression or play rather than a serious exercise.

However, I encourage you to revisit this basic movement. When done correctly, crawling engages your entire body in a way that few exercises can. It’s a full-body workout that helps improve your coordination, balance, and strength. The key is to crawl in a way that’s physiological—just as you did when you were a baby.

Primitive Reflexes Involved

Crawling is deeply connected to several primitive reflexes that are crucial in early human development:

1. Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR): This reflex helps with head control and posture, both crucial during crawling. It integrates as the infant learns to coordinate movements and maintain balance.
2. Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR): This reflex appears around 6-9 months of age and plays a significant role in crawling. When the infant looks down, the arms bend, and the legs straighten, and when the head is lifted, the arms straighten, and the legs bend, facilitating the crawling motion.
3. Spinal Galant Reflex: Triggered by touch along the side of the spine, this reflex encourages hip movement and assists in the lateral flexion needed for crawling.

As these reflexes integrate through crawling, they lay the foundation for more advanced motor skills and cognitive development.

Benefits of Crawling for Adults

Though often associated with infancy, crawling offers numerous benefits for adults:

1. Neurological Benefits: Crawling requires cross-lateral movement, where the opposite arm and leg move together. This movement pattern engages both hemispheres of the brain, enhancing neuroplasticity, improving coordination, and boosting cognitive function.
2. Core Strength and Stability: Crawling is a full-body exercise that strengthens the core muscles, including the abdominals, obliques, and lower back muscles, which are vital for maintaining good posture and preventing injury.
3. Joint Mobility and Flexibility: Crawling increases the range of motion in the shoulders, hips, and knees. It promotes healthy joint function by encouraging fluid movement and reducing stiffness.
4. Balance and Coordination: Crawling challenges your balance and requires coordination between different muscle groups, improving overall motor control and proprioception (the awareness of body position in space).
5. Functional Fitness: Crawling is a functional movement that mimics real-life activities, enhancing your ability to perform daily tasks with ease and reducing the risk of injury during other physical activities.

Muscles, Bones, and Nerves Involved

Crawling is a complex movement that engages multiple muscle groups, bones, and nerve pathways:

• Muscles:
  • Core Muscles: Transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, obliques, and erector spinae.
  • Shoulder and Upper Body Muscles: Deltoids, pectoralis major, triceps, and rotator cuff muscles.
  • Hip and Lower Body Muscles: Hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, and adductors.
• Bones:
  • Upper Body: Scapula (shoulder blade), humerus (upper arm bone), clavicle (collarbone), and the bones of the wrist and hand.
  • Lower Body: Pelvis, femur (thigh bone), tibia, fibula (lower leg bones), and the bones of the ankle and foot.
• Nerves:
  • Brachial Plexus: A network of nerves that control the muscles of the shoulder, arm, and hand.
  • Lumbosacral Plexus: Nerves that control the muscles of the pelvis, hips, and legs.
  • Spinal Nerves: These carry signals between the brain and the rest of the body, facilitating movement and sensory feedback during crawling.

How to Crawl Properly

Here’s what to focus on:

• Awareness of Joint Contact: As you begin to crawl, pay close attention to where your joints make contact with the ground. Ideally, in a proper, physiological crawl, your joints should glide smoothly above the surface, not slam into it. This continuous, fluid movement is what makes crawling so effective.
• Continuous Flow: Your crawl should be steady and flowing, without any jerky movements or awkward pauses. Imagine you’re moving as naturally as you did when you first learned to crawl.

Try this exercise and observe how your body feels. You might be surprised by the muscle engagement and the coordination it requires. And if you give it a go, I’d love to hear about your experience!