Influence of working memory task and time on postural control of children with attention deficit hyperactivity...

[Purpose] To investigate how balance changes develop across time under different conditions (with or without a memory task) for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). [Subjects and Methods] The participants were 11 children with ADHD and 12 normal children. To determine their static balance ability, a force plate was used to measure the center of the pressure trajectory. [Results] The length of the sway path became slightly greater in both groups when an additional memory task was added, but the difference was not statistically significant. However, it was interesting to note a significant difference in memory task ability across groups with increasing time. The ADHD group showed a decrease sway path with increasing time for the memory task, but in the control group it increased. [Conclusion] At first, the memory task interfered with ADHD children's performance; however, the memory task may improve their performance after a few seconds.