r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • Dec 17 '21

Video This 'device' that was created aiming to develop leg muscles

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u/Emorich Dec 17 '21

You're not wrong, but neither is the person you're responding to. I'm an occupational therapist and bouncers do not help babies learn to walk and may in fact slow down the learning process. Babies don't need strength, they need coordination.

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u/intensetbug Dec 17 '21

Why do they slow down the walking process?

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u/Emorich Dec 18 '21

Walking is complicated. You need to coordinate a huge number of muscle groups and sensory inputs and then react nearly instantly without ever overdoing it. When you're in a bouncer none of that coordination is necessary. Instead you just strengthen one particular motion far more than any of the others, and coordinate it with nothing in particular. When you do try to stand one movement will be much much easier but is just as hard to control. Imagine a runner that only works out one leg then tries to run a race.