How Occupational Therapy Help the Child with Gravitational Insecurity

Gravitational insecurity is described as a primal fear response to change in head position or disturbances to the base of support. It is one of the most devastating types of sensory integrative dysfunction.although it is commonly understood that gravity is a pervasive phenomenon unless one has difficulty in processing information from the vestibular receptors in the inner ear, it is easy to forget that every moment of our lives is influenced by our relationship to gravity. when clients are terrified by every change in position, they can become easily paralyzed by the demands of daily life.
Gravitational insecurity may result from difficulty processing sensation typically received by the otolith organs of the vestibular system.

Gravitational insecurity was associated with poor development of body scheme and inability to resolve sensory conflict. It is accompanied by a perceptual disorder.

Clients who are afraid of moving or having their heads out of an upright position often perceive very small movt to be larger than they. clients who have gravitational insecurity need a lot of support and encouragement.
Some strategies are used for this type of client. These are, first the client should always be involved at least initially, in activities in which the feet are on or near the ground. after clients have worked through some of their fear of moving the head out of an upright position, we create activities done in prone. clients control the movement of a swing when they are prone and very close to the mat.
Secondly, clients who have gravitational insecurity especially fear movements into backward space, in part because they cannot see where they are going. many clients who have gravitational insecurity also have poor body flexion and difficulty with eye convergence.part of their fear of falling may be caused by difficulty assuming a safe and protected position some of their difficulty dealings with the object coming towards them may be related to poor convergence.
However, by definition, gravitational insecurity is fear of movement that is out of proportion to that which could be accounted for by poor posture or ocular movements alone.

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