How Do Children BOSU?

The BOSU® Balance Trainer is an effective tool that is often utilized by a wide range of athletes and adults as part of a training routine. When using the Balance Trainer, your body is forced to recruit numerous core and stabilizing muscles in order to balance. This development of balance, core strength and coordination is important for even the most novice workout enthusiast.

Overlooked is the importance of developing all of those same skills in children. One additional benefit of using the BOSU® Balance Trainer, especially, for children, is its ability to encourage the engagement of something called the vestibular system. The vestibular system, while it sounds complicated, is basically responsible for helping us to maintain control and awareness of where our body is in space. This system also plays a behind-the-scenes role in stabilizing vision and balance.

With a growing number of children being diagnosed every day with conditions, such as Autism, sensory processing disorder, ADHD, etc., there is more and more awareness of the importance of the vestibular system. To put it simply, for an individual to respond appropriately to sights, sounds or even touches their vestibular system needs to be “turned on.” The common thread with many of the above diagnoses and learning disorders is a dysfunction of the vestibular system; thus, making it very difficult for these children to navigate basic everyday situations.

Many interventions for children use items like swings or trampolines to stimulate the vestibular system. The challenge is these methods only address input in one plane of gravity. As we go through daily life, none of us moves within one plane of space. Typical movement integrates all three planes: horizontal, vertical, and sagittal. The answer? The BOSU® Balance Trainer! The Balance Trainer is so versatile with the positions in when it can be used and the endless activities that can be safely performed that it is easy to provide the vestibular input needed in each plane.     

The most appealing part of using the BOSU® Balance Trainer with children: it is really fun! Because of the myriad of safe activities, all of which have significant benefits, children can be creative and make up their own games using the Balance Trainer. Play with the BOSU® Balance Trainer is purposeful, meaningful, imaginative and, most importantly, FUN. The Balance Trainer activities have so many inherent benefits for children they should be a staple in every child’s play routine!



Written by: Kim Partlow, MAOT CNFT
C.E.O. Neuro-Fit Systems, Inc.

@NeuroFitSystems