Remember how we went from lying on our backs as babies to figuring out how to turn, lift our head, crawl and stand up? Or how we learned to walk, run, hop, throw and catch before we hit our 5th birthday?
It all seems miraculous, but it wasn’t random magic. We were learning something fundamental to being human: how to move.
Humans are wired for movement. The brain evolved largely to control and coordinate it. As our brains developed, so did our ability to move in complex ways.
Physical literacy and children
Just as we learn language, numbers and now technology as we grow up i.e. becoming literate. We also build physical literacy—developing the skills, confidence and the motivation —to move across different activities and environments. According to one framework, the fundamental movement skills that children develop broadly fall into three main buckets:
- Locomotor skills – moving the body from one place to another, such as walking, running, hopping, skipping, galloping, or jumping.
- Object control skills – handling objects with the hands or feet, including throwing, catching, kicking, striking, dribbling, or rolling.
- Stability skills – maintaining or regaining balance and control, both in motion and stillness, through actions like bending, twisting, turning, or landing.
Some frameworks, also add body awareness—understanding how the body moves through space—as a fourth category.
We learn and practice many of these skills on our own. Have you seen a child try to stand up and fall and then try again and again and again? That’s a baby practicing.
Genetics and environmental context—the physical and social settings— also prime us to develop or suppress certain skills, abilities, beliefs and habits when it comes to being physically active.
Being curious, believing in your ability to learn, trusting that you can get better at something affects how you move around in the world.
Movement and older adults
There’s enough said about how little adults move in general. We definitely don’t move enough, but we also don’t move in as many different ways as we did before. Pushing, pulling, jumping, reaching, throwing, carrying and squatting are just some of the activities we don’t perform anymore.
Aging and trauma can change our physical abilities and confidence to move around our physical world. But we also lose what we don’t use.
If you are not practicing and learning movement skills as you age, you gradually lose strength, mobility, motivation and confidence to move independently.
Fundamental movement skills for adults
It means learning skills that focus on maintaining and improving essential physical abilities crucial for daily living, balance, mobility, and independence.
These skills include:
Balance and stability skills: standing on one foot, shifting weight, controlled bending and twisting, and safe landing.
Locomotor skills: walking at various speeds, stepping over obstacles, climbing stairs, and controlled turning or pivoting.
Object manipulation skills: reaching, grasping, lifting, and carrying objects safely.
Gait patterns: smooth and coordinated walking and transitioning from sitting to standing.
Coordination skills: hand-eye coordination for activities like reaching, catching, or simple object manipulation.
Body awareness: being aware of your body and how it moves in space, using your senses to navigate the world.
What does this mean in real life?
It might mean practicing getting up and down from a chair without using your hands, noticing how your weight shifts through your feet. It could be a trying a short walk where you play with different paces or surfaces. Or learning how to hinge at the hips and brace your core so lifting groceries feels safer and smoother.
These are the basic ways or patterns in which our body moves— squatting, bending down/hinging, walking/locomotion, pushing, pulling and carrying.
It’s valuable to learn these patterns, following good form and keeping up a consistent practice. These patterns will help you develop the skills you need for everyday activities like walking, climbing stairs, bending, and handling objects.
When you build skill and confidence in manageable steps, you move more, stick with it longer, and enjoy better health and independence.