Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are widely recognized as predictors of long-term health outcomes, yet existing frameworks primarily capture experiences that are consciously recalled and verbally reportable. This leaves a critical gap in understanding early developmental experiences that are nonverbal, relational, and somatically encoded. This paper introduces DOVE ACEs (Developmental Overwhelm, Vulnerability, and Exclusion) as an extension of existing ACE models and proposes movement as implicit memory as the mechanism through which these early experiences are carried across the lifespan. Drawing on clinical observation, biomechanics, developmental neuroscience, and trauma theory, this work identifies a consistent pattern in individuals at risk of falling: protective postural and gait adaptations that cannot be fully explained by age, strength, or conventional risk factors. We propose that early experiences—particularly those involving fear of falling or instability—may become encoded in the body’s movement system through biotensegrity-based organization. These adaptations persist as implicit motor patterns, shaping posture, gait, and load distribution over decades. The result may include chronic biomechanical stress, joint degeneration, and increased susceptibility to falls and fall-related mortality in later life. By integrating developmental experience, somatic memory, and biomechanics into a unified framework, this paper reframes fall risk as a lifespan process rather than a late-life condition. This perspective has significant implications for fall prevention, rehabilitation, trauma-informed care, and public health.
Gontang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.