Klapp Exercises

Original Editors - Sofie Bourdinon

Top Contributors - Rucha Gadgil, Aminat Abolade, Admin, Peter Vaes, Sofie Bourdinon, WikiSysop and Uchechukwu Chukwuemeka  

Introduction:

Klapp’s method also known as Kriechmethode ( crawling method) was developed in Germany in the beginning of the 20 century as a method for treating idiopathic scoliosis. This concept was created by orthopedist Bernhard Klapp and soon after if was developed by his son Rudolf Klapp. It was a nonsurgical method established with the aim of correcting the spinal curvature by stretching and strenghthening the back muscles.

It was noticed that during crawling on all fours, at a certain moment the spine gets exposed to a mobilizing, exercising and corrective influence so he established and exercise programme where children with idiopathis scoliosis were treated on all fours position. The therapy of the idiopathic scoliosis with help of complex exercise on all fours became not only the most used therapy in Germany for treating scoliosis. but also as a prevention of wrong body posture by children in the school age and is slowly gaining momentum all over the world.

Klapp stated that the spine is responsible for protecting and maintaining the static and dynamic functions, the nerves and blood vessels. He emphasized that wrong posture leads to a muscle imbalance in the body leading to negative effects on the spine and leading to impairments of the same.

Clinical Relevance:

Klapp divided the back impairments roughly into 8 general categories:

• Inborn scoliosis (often connected with “spina bifida”, inborn wrong leg joint position, dislocation of the hip, chest anomalies)
• Scoliosis as result of disease (tuberculosis, osteomyelitis, rickets…)
• Static scoliosis (different length of the legs, amputation)
• General scoliosis (from school, wrong body posture)
• Scoliosis after paralysis
• Post traumatic scoliosis (burn…)
• Antalgic scoliosis (scoliosis caused by pain)
• Idiopathic scoliosis (over 90%)

KLAPP’S CRAWLING

It is a unique method, which uses crawling on all fours to correct body posture by reducing pressure on the spine and optimizing use of back extensors.

The principle is in spreading your weight on the four supporting points while crawling which causes a rotation in the spine and simultaneous stretch - thus functionally strengthening of the “muscle corset”.

The movement has to always start in exact default position, locomotion has to be slow, smooth, along with your limbs pressing against the ground and keeping your spine straight. Even though idiopathic scoliosis has not been cured by the Klapp’s method, it is very effective in optimizing the muscle tension in the back area thus helping in realign the posture non surgically.

Indications:

• Scoliosis
• Wrong body posture
• Strengthening the muscle “corset”
• Trunkal muscle imbalance