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As first appeared in ADVANCE for Occupational Therapy Practitioners Online, www.advanceforot.com, April 17, 2001. |
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Aikido as a Therapeutic Activity Using this modern martial art in therapy, you can accomplish many therapeutic goals at once. By Jeanne Shepard, OTR/L photo/courtesy Jeanne Shepard |
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Imagine that you are a child with a developmental disability. Your therapist has recommended that your therapy be supplemented with a sensory diet. Subsequently, your parents enroll you in an activity that lets you run, spin, and roll on the ground. You get to play movement games with other children. You learn about your physical boundaries and those of others as well. You learn how to resolve conflicts without fighting. You learn self-defense techniques. You get to tell your friends that you're learning a martial art. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? A Unique, Nonviolent Martial Art Aikido, a relatively modern martial art, provides all of these elements. It was invented in Japan by Morihei Ueshiba, known to Aikido students as O Sensei, or Great Teacher. O Sensei was a martial arts expert who was also a pacifist and wanted to reconcile these two seemingly irreconcilable forces. He developed Aikido as a way of dealing with the aggression of an attacker without harm to the individual. Aikido techniques enable the practitioner to redirect the attacker's energy to throw him off, or take him down to the ground to be pinned. The attacker's momentum provides the energy for Aikido techniques, so strength is not required to do them. Aikido is an ideal martial art for women, girls, children and people who in general do not have a lot of strength. Aikido has a unique nonviolent philosophy of defining violence as being out of harmony with the universe. It is the task of the Aikido practitioner to restore harmony, making its practice popular with people not interested in inflicting physical harm on others. Parents of young Aikido students find that it helps their children become calm, focused and grounded. It is clearly modeled for children that using martial arts training as an excuse for picking fights is absolutely contrary to the spirit of Aikido. They learn instead that it is better to prevent and de-escalate aggression in the first place. These features are of benefit to all children, inundated with violence in games and on television. What makes Aikido particularly useful to occupational therapists is the wealth of sensory stimulation it provides. Ukemi, or the art of failing, is central to Aikido. Since Aikido techniques consist primarily of throwing off an attacker, it follows that much of practice consists of learning to fall safely. Most of the time this is accomplished with a forward or backward roll. This provides vestibular stimulation as well as tactile contact with the mat. Regular ukemi practice also provides students with a kind of emotional resilience. They learn that they can fall and not necessarily get hurt and bounce up again. Students getting up from the ground from a roll essentially push themselves up, providing themselves with proprioceptive stimulation to the shoulders, hips and knees. Students learn joint locks to immobilize their partners, getting further proprioceptive input. Most of the techniques are done in a kneeling position as well as standing. This is taught for the very functional reason that, until recently, kneeling was the way Japanese sat in their homes. They were expected to be able to employ self-defense techniques in whatever position they were likely to spend any length of time. The suwari waza position, halfway between kneeling flat with the feet tucked under and tall kneeling, is an excellent one to develop trunk control and balance. Students practice techniques with partners, trading off the roles of Nage (the one who does the technique) and Uke (the one who attacks and is thrown). Students learn to move with their partners and be sensitive to their movements. They learn interpersonal skills like taking turns. They learn to respond to physical and verbal feedback. Most of these skills are taught to children through games. Grading Aikido For Special Needs Children This sounds pretty demanding, especially for a child who may lack physical and social awareness. But when the skills are broken down, they can provide an enjoyable path to greater awareness. Some Aikido instructors are already working with therapists and grading their classes to make them accessible. For example, Bruce Robson, a children's Aikido instructor at Puget Sound Aikikai in Seattle, WA, works regularly with J.C., a seven-year-old boy with the diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder with pervasive developmental delay. J.C.'s condition manifests with impaired initiation, impaired socialization in peer relationships, delayed speech acquisition, problems with transition and a need for routine and structure. J.C.'s pediatric neurologist recommended Aikido as well as other activities to help address these problems. J.C.'s mother says she tried several of the other activities with J.C., including gymnastics and music therapy. Aikido is the first of the recommended activities that he has enjoyed enough to stick with. |
An Aikido Session for a Special Needs Child J.C. comes to the dojo on Saturday mornings already dressed in his Gi, or martial arts uniform. J.C.'s mother let him have the Gi after several sessions. She could see that he enjoyed it enough to stay with it, and J.C. is very proud of his Gi. J.C. is reminded to take off his shoes before he gets on the mat. He and Bruce bow to the front of the dojo, and then to each other, saying "Onegaishimasu" which means "Please practice with me." Bruce and J.C. then warm up by jogging around the mat and doing a variety of stretching exercises that also provide weight bearing to the hips and knees. J.C. learns wrist exercises, which all Aikido students learn, to prevent overstretching during joint pins. These exercises also provide proprioceptive stimulation. J.C. learns to count to five in Japanese as he does the exercises. Next, Bruce and J.C. do forward and backwards rolls side by side, providing vestibular stimulation. J.C. then does knee walking, working on his trunk control and balance. Finally, towards the end of the 30-45 minute session, depending on J.C.'s attention that day, Bruce shows J.C. a simple Aikido technique. Learning this requires that J.C. watch Bruce and imitates his posture, weight shifting, foot and hand movements. This is the most challenging part of the class for J.C., but he is able to do this now, and enjoys successfully throwing Bruce. Bruce and J.C. change roles so J.C. gets to practice his rolling again in a functional way. At the end of class, Bruce and J.C. bow to each other again, thanking each other for training. J.C.'s mother is happy with the improvement she's seen in J.C.'s physical coordination. She also sees improvement in his attention and willingness to initiate conversation since he began Aikido. He clearly looks forward to his lessons and talks about it enthusiastically. J.C. already talks about how in time he may be able to participate in the class with the other children. This is a marked increase in his ability to be involved socially with other children. J.C.'s mother only wishes he could go to Aikido more regularly. Not Just for Pediatric Clients Aikido is not just useful for pediatric clients. Recently, I had an adult client who also benefited from Aikido skills. This client had had a serious fall as a child and had residual brain injury with cognitive deficit, mild hemiplegia and leg length discrepancy. He was also somewhat overweight, due to inactivity. He was referred to me with complaints of back pain. My goal was to recommend an activity he would enjoy that would improve his general strength and conditioning and that would decrease his pain. At first, I tried a water exercise program, but he was not interested and did not show up for sessions. Finally, I brought a mat to the area outside his daytime work area. I started him with basic back rolls, rolling onto his back then up into a kneeling position. This was to strengthen his abdominal muscles. To counteract the trunk flexion, I had him do a simple Yoga exercise called Cat/Cow which provided trunk extension. Next, I had him do knee walking across the mat to improve his trunk control. In order to maintain his interest I explained to him that he was learning the basic skills of a martial art. I showed him a video of some advanced techniques and pointed out to him the elements that he was learning. In a surprisingly short time, the client had decreased complaints of back pain, suggesting that the therapeutic effect was meeting his needs. But the other result was that the client enjoyed the activity to the point of complaining if I missed a session. Ironically, the only difficulty I ran into using Aikido was when the staff learned that I was "teaching the client a martial art." The client had an anger management problem and the staff was understandably nervous that I might be teaching him something that could equip him to hurt someone. I had to explain clearly to staff that I was teaching him physical skills, not martial arts techniques. This reassured the staff and I was permitted to continue this way with the client as long as he was a resident at the facility. Staff did not report an increase in the client's aggression as a result of the Aikido-based therapy. Recommendations My purpose is not necessarily to suggest occupational therapists should join Aikido dojos and begin to learn Aikido for the purpose of using it in their therapy. I am an OT and study Aikido, but I'm well aware of the multiple demands on therapists' time and energy as it is. My recommendation is to locate an Aikido dojo (school) in your city and sound out the children's teachers on their feelings about working with special needs children. Some are willing to work one on one and closely with the child's therapist. This is the best arrangement, if possible. Others may have classes that are small enough for an easily distracted child, and many allow for a helper to redirect the child as needed. Jeanne Shepard is an occupational therapist at Fircrest School in Shoreline, WA. |