Learning to Balance in Wide Stride: A Key Skill for Walking | Athetoid CP #6 🚶🏾‍♂️

I’m continuing this series with my co-instructor, Ne’Quan 👨🏾‍🦱💙. Ne’Quan has spastic athetoid cerebral palsy, and I was his physical therapist from age 9 through age 26. When we began filming this playlist, he was 27 — and at this point, we are simply dear friends. Although Ne’Quan is an adult, the motor challenges he experiences are the same challenges I address across the lifespan, including with young children who have similar movement patterns. The strategies used in this series apply across ages; what changes is how the task is presented. With younger clients 👧🏽👦🏼, these skills are often built through play. With Ne’Quan, we work directly using verbal cues, repetition, task progression, and long-established trust. 🧠 What This Video Focuses On This video focuses on wide stride stance — a position that requires pelvic dissociation, trunk rotation, and the ability to keep the body oriented forward rather than moving as a single unit. Ne’Quan can stand with his feet together and with his feet wide. Where it becomes significantly more challenging is when one foot steps forward into stride while the body remains facing front. Without cueing, his most efficient strategy is to turn his entire body sideways. While this creates a wide base of support, it eliminates the rotational and dissociation demands of true stride. In this session, I use a mat placed in front of Ne’Quan to provide a visual and spatial reference. One foot steps forward onto the mat while the other remains off, with the goal of keeping: • Both feet pointing forward • Shoulders facing the front • The pelvis dissociated rather than moving as a unit • Upright alignment without collapsing or turning sideways This is very difficult for Ne’Quan. He does not finish with perfect form — and that is exactly the point. The video clearly demonstrates the motor control challenges and compensatory tendencies that occur when rotation and dissociation are required. 🧠 Why Wide Stride Matters Wide stride is a foundational skill for walking, balance recovery, transitions, and functional mobility. It requires coordinated control between the pelvis, trunk, and legs. For individuals with athetoid movement patterns, maintaining forward orientation during stride is especially challenging due to fluctuating tone and difficulty finding a stable point of control. This video shows how careful setup, cueing, and repetition can allow the task to be practiced safely without letting compensatory strategies take over. 📌 About Ne’Quan • Walks in daily life with someone nearby for safety 🚶🏾‍♂️ • Does not speak; communicates using gestures, signs, an alphabet board, and a switch-accessed communication device 💬📱 • Strong receptive language skills • Limited hand control affecting fine-motor and self-help tasks 🤲🏽 • Functionally most similar to GMFCS Level III ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Introduction & Meet Ne’Quan 00:23 Ne’Quan Introduces Himself 00:38 Athetoid CP & Balance Challenges 01:29 Why Stride Is Difficult 01:45 Setup Using the Mat 02:08 Preventing Sideways Compensation 02:21 Facilitated Wide Stride 02:59 Holding Alignment With Cueing 03:32 Switching Sides 04:30 Functional Relevance 05:32 Closing 🎥 Watch All of Ne’Quan’s Videos (Playlist) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAkJbMrHyKjNPEoC-A5MaSjxfr_omXGDS 🌐 More Resources Website: https://www.pediatricPTexercises.com Facebook: Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises Email: amysturkey@gmail.com 💬 Captions / Accessibility I’ve reviewed and corrected the captions for clarity. To turn on captions: click CC. To change caption language: Settings → Subtitles/CC → choose a language or Auto-translate 🌍 📚 Books by Amy Sturkey (Amazon) Children’s Books P is for Poop and Pee Accidents — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLSRJ483 A is for Anxiety — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LXQ3W6V A is for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QH9H5HR C is for Cerebral Palsy — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088TSJCYP D is for Down Syndrome — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079P8HH49 A is for Autism — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071F4FFTB Professional Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercise Books Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises for the Hips — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998156736 Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises for the Knees — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998156760 Pediatric Physical Therapy Exercises for the Ankles — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TX2ZCFD