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The relationship between joint mobility and motor performance in children with and without the diagnosis of
Lemke D Jelsma1, Reint H Geuze, Mariette H Klerks
1Developmental and Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. djelsma@live.nl
Insights
Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) show higher hypermobility than typically developing peers. Increased joint mobility is linked to poorer motor performance in children with DCD.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric neurology
- Developmental pediatrics
- Orthopedics
Background:
- Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affects motor skill acquisition.
- Joint mobility, or hypermobility, is a condition characterized by excessive joint range of motion.
- The relationship between hypermobility and motor performance in children with DCD requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between joint mobility and motor performance in children diagnosed with DCD.
- To compare the prevalence of hypermobility in children with DCD versus a typically developing control group.
- To determine if joint mobility is a significant factor in motor performance deficits observed in DCD.
Main Methods:
- Study included 36 children with DCD and 352 typically developing children (aged 3-16 years).
- Hypermobility was assessed using the Beighton score with goniometry, applying age-specific cut-off points.
- Motor performance was evaluated using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC).
Main Results:
- The DCD group exhibited a significantly higher prevalence of hypermobility (64%) compared to the control group (33%).
- A significant negative correlation was found between the Beighton score and MABC total scores in the DCD group (r = -0.38, p = 0.02).
- Specifically, knee hyperextension correlated negatively with MABC scores in children with DCD.
Conclusions:
- Current hypermobility cut-off scores may overestimate prevalence; a cut-off of 7 is suggested for children aged 3-16 years.
- While not related in the general population, joint mobility is associated with motor performance in children with DCD.
- Excessive joint mobility may impede motor coordination development in children experiencing DCD.
Background:
The purpose of this study was to determine whether joint mobility is associated with motor performance in children referred for Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD-group) in contrast to a randomly selected group of children between 3-16 years of age (Random-Group).
Methods:
36 children with DCD and 352 typically developing children (Random-Group) participated. Hypermobility was classified based on the Beighton score (cut-off ≥5 for 3-9 years and ≥4 for 10-16 years) using goniometry. Motor performance was assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC).
Results:
The mean Beighton score in the DCD-group was 5.0 versus 2.6 in the Random group. Prevalence of hypermobility was higher in the DCD-group than in the Random Group (64% and 33% respectively; χ2 = 16.09, p < .001). There was a significant [negative] correlation (r(p) = -.38, p = .02) between Beighton score and total MABC scores within the DCD group, but not in the Random Group (r(p)= -0.07, p = .20). More specifically, in the DCD group we found a significant negative correlation between the MABC total score and the degree of hyperextension of the knees.
Conclusion:
The extremely high prevalence of hypermobility when applying the recommended cut-off scores stresses the need for an international agreement on firm cut-off points and the use of standardized measurement of Beighton mobility manoeuvres. The results of this study show that a cut-off of 7 is more appropriate, resulting in a prevalence of 6% in children aged 3-16 years. Although in the general population motor performance and joint mobility are not related, this is the case in children referred for DCD. We argue that more mobility of the joints may be a disadvantage when motor coordination is poorly developed.
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