Effects of neuromuscular training on psychomotor development and active joint position sense in school children

As psychomotor development occurs in a specific social context, the environment in which a child is reared is important. The randomized study involved forty-five school children between 8 and 10 years. They were assigned to a control group (n = 23) and a neuromuscular training group (n = 22). A neuromuscular intervention for six weeks, on two nonconsecutive days, and in a circuit with 30-second stations was performed. The psychomotor development was evaluated through a psychomotor battery and the active joint position sense through the positional error. In the control group, the positional error decreased significantly in the shoulder (p < 0.001) and hip (p < 0.001), while the scores of motor function increased significantly which included balance (p < 0.001), spatio-temporal structuring (p = 0.022), global praxia (p = 0.002), and fine praxia (p = 0.003). In the neuromuscular training group, the positional error decreased significantly in the shoulder (p = 0.015), elbow (p = 0.015), wrist (p < 0.001), hip (p < 0.001), knee (p < 0.001), and ankle (p < 0.001), while the motor function scores increased significantly which included tonicity (p < 0.001), balance (p < 0.001), notion of the body (p < 0.001), spatio-temporal structuring (p < 0.001), global praxia (p < 0.001), and fine praxia (p < 0.001). A six-week neuromuscular training improved active joint position sense and psychomotor development in children.