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Updated: Mar 30, 2026
Measurements of Motor Function and Other Clinical Outcome Parameters in Ambulant Children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Published on: January 12, 2019
Timed motor function tests capacity in healthy children
Aline Chacon Pereira1, Márcia Gonçalves Ribeiro1, Alexandra Prufer de Queiroz Campos Araújo1
1Paediatrics Department, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Insights
Healthy children
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Neurology
- Motor Function Assessment
Background:
- Timed motor function tests are crucial for monitoring children with neuromuscular disorders.
- Establishing normative data for healthy children is essential for accurate clinical assessment.
- Previous studies have focused on specific tests, necessitating broader evaluation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish normative data for simple timed motor function tests in healthy children.
- To assess the performance of healthy children aged 2-12 years on specific motor tasks.
- To provide a baseline for identifying potential motor delays or disorders.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional observational study involving 345 healthy children aged 2-12 years.
- Participants were evaluated on time to rise from the floor (TRF), 10-meter walk test (10MWT), and 10-meter run test (10MRT).
- Eligibility criteria included independent walking by 14 months and willingness to participate.
Main Results:
- Motor function performance improved with age in preschool children.
- Stabilization of mean performance times was observed: TRF (1.2s), 10MWT (10s), and 10MRT (5s).
- These findings provide age-specific benchmarks for motor function in children.
Conclusions:
- Walking and rising speed in healthy children improve with age, reaching a plateau.
- The TRF, 10MWT, and 10MRT are time- and space-efficient tests with broad applicability.
- These tests can serve as valuable screening tools for motor disorders in pediatric care settings.
Objective:
Motor function tests are used clinically and in research in children, particularly in those with neuromuscular disorders. Timed function tests are recommended in the follow-up of patients with neuromuscular disorders. This study was designed to know how healthy children perform on simple timed motor function tests.
Material And Methods:
In a cross-sectional observational study, 345 children aged 2-12 years, followed at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's Institute of Paediatric, were evaluated. To be eligible they had to have acquired independent walking before the age of 14 months, be able to cope and willing to participate in the study. Anthropometric and vital signs were verified, as well as contact with smokers. The following timed motor function tests were measured: time to rise from the floor (TRF), time to walk 10 meters (10MWT) and time to run 10 meters (10MRT).
Results:
Improvement in time to perform those motor functions was found to occur in healthy preschool children. Stabilisation of mean times for those motor functions was seen thereafter: TRF of 1.2 s, 10MWT of 10 s and 10MRT of 5 s.
Conclusions:
Walking and rising speed improve with age in preschoolers, as expected, and is shown to occur up to a plateau level. Our findings for the 10MWT, 10MRT and TRF are in line with those published in 2008 for the 6 minute walk test (6MWT). The motor functions used in the present study require less time and space than the ones in the 6MWT. They should be considered more universally applicable. Those tests could be used in childcare clinics as a screening for motor disorders such as the neuromuscular diseases.
Trial Registration Number:
1.098.302.
