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Motor Control Test responses to balance perturbations in adults with an intellectual disability
Leigh Hale1, Rebekah Miller, Alice Barach
1Centre for Physiotherapy Research and School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. leigh.hale@otago.ac.nz
Background:
The aims of this small exploratory study were to determine (1) whether adults with intellectual disability who had a recent history of falling had slower motor responses to postural perturbations than a sample of adults without disability when measured with the Motor Control Test (MCT) and (2) to identify any learning effects associated with the test.
Methods:
A sample of 7 adults with intellectual disability (58 +/- 12 years) and 13 adults without disability (49 +/- 6 years) were tested three times over the period of one week.
Results:
The mean response latency for participants with intellectual disability was 158 +/- 18 ms and for the control participants was 140 +/- 13 ms. No evidence was found for a learning effect with repeated testing.
Conclusion:
Some adults with an intellectual disability, who have a history of falling, may have delayed responses to postural perturbations and this impairment could be targeted in physiotherapy interventions aimed at improving balance capabilities and preventing falls.
