VIEWPOINTS

Physical Literacy
— Maddy Purves-Smith

Lifelong health and wellness through the act of making

As humans, it is our nature to design. We arrange and shift, and rearrange again until we have everything just so; be it in designing our living room layout or the route we’ll take to run errands for the day. When designing, we might ask ourselves “Will this chair look good next to that couch?” or “Will this be the fastest route around the city?” since we tend to focus on aesthetic and efficiency. Rarely do we question, “Will this provide opportunity to maximize my body movement potential?”. To be fair, it is a bizarre and obscure question, but given the importance of physical activity to human health and wellbeing, perhaps it is one that should be asked more often.

Physical literacy is the ability to realize our own body movement potential in any given situation, be it from a wheelchair or walker, on two legs, suspended in the water or air, or scaling a wall. It is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to maintain physical activity throughout the lifecourse1 and it underpins almost everything we do, from playing the piano to hand-knitting a scarf to carrying our groceries while navigating the icy winter sidewalks of a chinook-swept Calgary. The movement and awareness of our body in the physical world greatly informs our understanding of it.2 Through activities such as running, jumping, throwing, floating, grabbing and grasping, or hanging upside down, our senses develop an imprint on our brain of the world we live in and how it operates. Concepts such as gravity, buoyancy and friction become intuitive to our subconscious and help us to interpret a continually changing environment. A deep attunement to our own body allows us to better read the non-verbal cues of others, strengthening the social bonds that are so pivotal to our health. The more developed our individual physical literacy is the better able we are to navigate and participate in the world with confidence and ease. We are then more motivated to engage in physical activity and more likely to “exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others”.3

Importantly, but all too often overlooked, the masterful movement skills necessary for a high level of physical literacy must be learned. Even among seemingly natural athletes, the most graceful social dancers, or the most skilled wood carvers; all movement skills are acquired through repeated learning experiences that involve a combination of movement opportunity and feedback. These experiences begin as soon as movement begins in infancy, and they continue into childhood and adolescence when the human brain is its most busy making and re-enforcing neural connections that get used, and eliminating ones that don’t, and continue throughout adulthood. The more frequent and the more varied the opportunities are and the more supportive and appropriate the feedback, the more attuned an individual’s skillset can become.6 In practice this means participating in a huge variety of activities where body movement is a central component – something that can only be accomplished through intentional design in our daily living.

Interestingly, an unanticipated consequence of our first-world, high-tech, high efficiency society is that, for too many of us, physical activity has become both unnecessary in meeting our basic needs (none of us need to run to capture our supper) and inconvenient/uncomfortable as part of daily living and recreation. As a result, the types of things we spend our time on have changed. Automation and advances in computer technology mean that we spend less time actually doinganything and more time sitting in front of a computer instructing a machine to do stuff for us or to entertain us. Take, for example, online grocery shopping; rather than having to go to a store and spend 45 minutes walking around, pushing a cart, picking up items, reaching to top shelves, it is now possible to pre-order online and simply drive to the store door where our groceries will be placed into the back of our car without us ever leaving the driver’s seat. While this may seem like a welcome convenience, in reality, we may be doing ourselves a disservice.

The development of physical literacy begins in childhood through movement learning opportunities. Photo by Fen Roessingh.

Activity has changed for children, too. Starting in childhood, less time is spent in active play, chores and instruction, and more time is spent in front of the screen. According to Canada’s 2016 ParticipACTION Report Card, a summary on the health and wellness of Canada’s children, only nine percent of kids aged five to 17 years are getting the minimum amount of daily physical activity necessary for healthy living.8 This has the compounding effect of reducing learning opportunities to develop movement skills, which then decreases the confidence and ease with which movement can be performed. This leads to decreased motivation and engagement in movement tasks and, cyclically, fewer learning opportunities. The result is an impoverished level of physical literacy that, without deliberate interruption and concerted compensatory effort, can persist throughout the lifespan and limit quality of life.

All is not doom and gloom though. If we ask the question “Does this provide movement opportunity?” every time we start designing, there are many ways to improve physical literacy outside of the traditional realms of sport and exercise (two things that many people feel indifferent or downright adverse to).

 For example, in the work environment, designed systems that shift the focus from short-term output to an emphasis on opportunities for reduced sedentary time and increased physical activity and skillful movement can improve mental focus, decrease illness and increase profits. This can be as simple as adopting things like standing desks, and by providing space and objects that encourage active breaks and play (like a fosse ball table). In an office, purposefully keep the printer just outside the door so you need to move every couple of minutes to retrieve your documents. In manual labour work, focus on movement techniques that balance the muscle groups and do not result in overuse injuries. These things may seem inefficient and trivial in the short term, but in the long run, they will improve health and therefore be good for business.

In recreation, things like craft and art –both being physical expressions of the human experience– have a reflective relationship to physical literacy. Opportunities to engage in craft and to receive technical instruction to refine craft specific skills (such as critical instruction on stitching technique or pottery turning) will enhance an individual’s physical literacy and its associated benefits. Conversely, a highly physically literate individual will be able to engage in craft freely and to refine their skills with ease.  Through the process of honing a trade, there are opportunities to develop skills that require fine hand movements and full-body strength, endurance, flexibility and agility.

As designers, it is up to us to dictate the emphasis of our efforts. By recognizing the importance of body movement opportunity in all aspects of our lives, we can shift the trend for future generations, placing value on physical literacy and becoming advocates for the long-term health and wellness of our communities.

References

[1] Margaret Whitehead, Routledge Studies in Physical Education and Youth Sport: Physical Literacy   Throughout the Lifecourse (New York: Routledge, 2010), 11-12.

[2] Margaret Whitehead, “Physical Literacy: Philosophical Considerations in Relation to Developing a Sense of Self, Universality and Propositional Knowledge,” Sport, Ethics and Philosophy vol. 1, issue 3 (20017).

[3] Shawn Ladda, “Physical Literacy is a Social Justice Issue,” Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, & Dance vol. 85, issue 5 (2014).

[4] Peter T. Katzmarzyk, “Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Health: Paradigm Paralysis or Paradigm Shift?,” Perspectives in Diabetes vol. 59 (2010).

[5] “Physical Activity,” Public Health Agency of Canada, last modified May 23, 2011, http://www.phac aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/hl-mvs/pa-ap/index-eng.php

[6] Alne MacNamara, Dave Collins, and Susan Giblin, “Just let them play? Deliberate preparation as the most appropriate foundation for lifelong physical activity,” Front. Psychol. Vol. 6 (2015).

[7] Natalie E. Houser, Lindsay Roach, Michelle R. Stone, Joan Turner, and Sara F.L. Kirk, “Let the Children Play: Scoping Review on the Implementation and Use of Loose Parts for Promoting Physical Activity Participation,” AIMS Public Health vol. 3 issue 4 (2016).

[8] ParticipACTION, ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth (Toronto: ParticipACTION, 2016). 

Maddy Purves-Smith owns and operates Custom Woolen Mills in Carstairs, a rural town in Alberta. She has a deep interest in Kinesiology and her PHd research has focused on the process of human aging.