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Growth and muscle strength development in children with developmental coordination disorder

Isabelle Demers1,2, Hélène Moffet2, Luc Hébert1,2

  • 1CIUSSS Capitale Nationale, CIRRIS, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology
|March 13, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) show reduced muscle strength gains as they grow taller. This study found that strength development in children with DCD lags behind their typically developing peers, even with similar growth rates.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Physical Therapy
  • Motor Development Research
  • Biomedical Engineering

Background:

  • Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting motor skills.
  • Assessing muscle strength development is crucial for understanding functional limitations in children with DCD.
  • Growth significantly influences muscle strength, but this relationship may differ in atypical development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of physical growth on the development of lower limb maximal isometric muscle strength (MIMS) in children with DCD.
  • To compare the rate of MIMS development relative to growth (height and body mass) between children with DCD and typically developing children.

Main Methods:

  • Observational study utilizing hand-held dynamometry to measure MIMS in hip, knee, and ankle muscle groups.
  • Regression analysis compared MIMS changes with height and body mass changes in children with DCD (n=33) against a database of typically developing children (n=183).
  • Analyses controlled for age and sex to isolate the effects of DCD on strength development.

Main Results:

  • Children with DCD exhibited 37.3% to 69.2% less muscle strength gain per unit of height gain compared to typically developing children.
  • This difference was statistically significant across most lower limb muscle groups, except for knee extensors and ankle dorsiflexors in females.
  • No significant differences in strength gains relative to body mass gains were observed between the groups.

Conclusions:

  • Children with DCD experience diminished gains in maximal isometric muscle strength relative to height growth compared to their typically developing peers.
  • These findings suggest that growth-related strength improvements are less efficient in children with DCD, potentially impacting their motor function.
  • Interventions aimed at improving strength in children with DCD may need to consider these differential growth-related adaptations.
Abstract

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