Low muscle tone, hypotonia, is a developmental condition in children that can cause them to appear “weak” or “floppy” and cause delays in movement and gross motor abilities such as coordination, balance and strength. The tone (or “stiffness”) of your muscles is controlled by the nervous system and can be the result of conditions such as ASD, Downs syndrome, cerebral palsy, genetic disorders or just a general developmental delay. Muscle tone influences the range of movement of a joint, therefore low muscle tone often goes hand in hand with hypermobility (excessive joint movement). It can also affect your sense of joint movement (proprioception) which lets you know where your body is in space (body awareness).
Low muscle tone and joint hypermobility can contribute to multiple developmental concerns including poor posture, “W” sitting, gross motor delay, muscle or joint pain, overpronation of feet, and rapid fatigue with exercise or sustained postures such as sitting.
An infant who is significantly delayed in meeting their movement milestones or a toddler or young child who appears “clumsy” in comparison to their peers may benefit from developmental assessment and intervention from a paediatric physiotherapist.
Movement is a good place to start when treating low muscle tone and individualized activity and exercise programs can be created by a paediatirc physiotherapist following assessment.
A physiotherapist is also able to assist with orthotic prescription to correct foot alignment in a child who has overpronation (rolling in) and reduced stability of their feet and ankles, which is a common occurrence in children with low muscle tone. Correction of foot position will contribute to balance and motor planning improvement as well as reduce the risk of injury to knee, hip and back joints in the future.
Physiotherapists can also prescribe specialised seating or equipment to assist a child to sit on the floor or at a desk or stand when they do not have the postural strength to maintain the position themselves.
For more information please contact our paediatric trained physiotherapists.