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Updated: Mar 23, 2026
Experimental Methods to Study Human Postural Control
Published on: September 11, 2019
Age-related changes in postural sway in preschoolers
Evi Verbecque1, Paula Hentschel Lobo da Costa2, Pieter Meyns3
1Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Insights
Five-year-old children exhibit distinct postural sway compared to younger preschoolers, necessitating age-specific balance assessments. Performance on challenging sensory tasks improves with age, but younger children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric motor control
- Developmental biomechanics
- Sensory integration in children
Background:
- Postural control is crucial for development.
- Understanding age-related changes in balance is important for identifying developmental milestones.
- Preschoolers' ability to maintain balance under varying sensory conditions is not well-established.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in postural sway in typically developing children aged 3-6 years.
- To examine postural sway under different sensory conditions (vision, surface stability).
- To establish reference values for postural sway parameters in preschoolers.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of 96 typically developing children (3-5 years old).
- Postural sway measured using a force plate over 40 seconds in four conditions: eyes open/closed on stable/foam surfaces.
- Data analyzed using a 2x2x3 MANOVA (surface x vision x age group).
Main Results:
- Fewer 3- and 4-year-olds completed tasks with altered sensory input compared to 5-year-olds.
- Significant effects of vision, surface, and their interaction on postural sway parameters were observed.
- Age significantly affected antero-posterior amplitude, medio-lateral root mean square, and sway area, distinguishing 5-year-olds from younger children.
Conclusions:
- Postural sway in natural stance differentiates 5-year-olds from 3- and 4-year-olds.
- Age-specific reference values for balance parameters are needed for preschoolers.
- While older children perform better on complex sensory tasks, younger children's performance on these tasks can be compared to older peers if achieved.
Objectives:
The present study aimed to investigate age-related differences of postural sway in 3- to 6-year-old typically developing children in different sensory conditions and subsequently to provide reference values for global descriptive sway parameters in preschoolers.
Methods:
Ninety-six typically developing children, between 3 and 5 years of age, participated in this cross-sectional study. Postural sway was measured for 40s in four conditions (eyes open/eyes closed on stable ground/foam) by using a force plate. Global descriptive sway parameters were calculated and analysed using a 2 × 2 × 3 (surface × vision × age group) MANOVA (p<0.05) in the children that were able to complete the task (40s).
Results:
When sensory information was altered, a significantly smaller number of 3- and 4-year-olds was able to complete the task. Significant main effects of vision (p<0.05), surface (p<0.001) and an interaction effect between vision and surface (p<0.05) on all postural sway parameters were found. A significant main effect of age was found for antero-posterior amplitude (p=0.047), medio-lateral root mean square (p=0.012) and area (p=0.009) between 3- and 5-year-olds and 4- and 5-year-olds. No interaction effects (surface × vision × age group) were found.
Conclusions:
During natural stance, the amount of postural sway distinguishes 5-year-olds from 3- and 4-year-olds, highlighting the need for age-specific reference values for specific balance-related sway parameters (e.g. RMS_ml). Regarding test conditions with altered sensory input, a larger number of 5-year-old children are able to perform more difficult tasks. Nevertheless, if 3- or 4-year-olds are able to perform the more difficult tasks, their performance can be compared to the older children.
