Lycra Therapy Tools

Lycra Materials: Enhancing Adaptive Interactions for Children

Lycra materials are widely utilised in paediatric occupational therapy to support children's adaptive interactions within their clinic, school, and home environments. By promoting participation in play, these materials contribute to positive motor, social, and emotional outcomes.

Products made from Lycra – such as suspended swings, sheets, blankets, ropes, tunnels, and compression clothing – are integral to delivering sensory integration interventions. Occupational therapy practitioners tailor activities using Lycra to facilitate essential functional components aligned with family-developed goals:

• Refined Movement: Aids in integrating primitive reflexes and strengthening core and body muscles for improved three-dimensional movement.

• Enhanced Stability & Strength: Boosts strength and stability in shoulders, arms, hands (through grasp and weight-bearing), and the lower body (pelvis, knees, feet).

• Controlled Mobility: Promotes dynamic stability throughout the body, preventing compensatory movements.

• Improved Balance & Coordination: Integrates vestibular and somatosensory input with every action.

• Optimised Respiratory Function: Supports posture, self-regulation, alertness, and vocalisation through deeper, more varied breathing.

Lycra-based tools are therefore vital in helping children achieve greater function and engagement in their daily lives.