Katie Eggleston DPT, physical therapist at the Pineville office of Child and Family Development, emphasizes that we can improve our health and build motor skills not just in a physical therapy session or gym, but in everyday events and activities already happening around the house.

In June, Katie knows your family might be leaving the house and heading to the beach!  Here are some ideas for the sea & sand:

• Walking in the sand is a great workout for the whole body! Your leg muscles could be working 2-3x harder barefoot in the sand compared to on hard ground. The drier the sand is, the more it moves around when you step on it, giving you a balance workout and causing your foot muscles to adapt at every step.
• Walking barefoot helps us work on our proprioception, or knowing where our body parts are and how much effort they are using. We have so many nerve endings in our feet that are often dulled to sensation due to wearing socks and shoes, but when we‚Äôre barefoot (especially on tiny grains of sand) we can feel so much more!
• Just like on land, speeding things up can also help‚Ķrunning will also be much harder against the resistance of the sand and the shifting as we bear weight through it.
• Bonus: Check out your child‚Äôs posture and weight bearing while at the beach. Watch their footprints as they walk on damp sand. It will give you an idea of their arch and how pressure is distributed throughout the sole of the foot. The deeper the imprint, the more pressure through that part of the foot!