Pattern analysis of motor development and of its disorders

Posture or movement is considered as a structure of integrated patterns. A motor pattern is a spatio-temporal configuration in the nervous system indipendent of the mechanisms of muscles, bones and joints which bring about the movement. Kinesiology, which is a study of movement, should include the analysis of this patterned structure. A method is described "motoscopic examination" which allows one to assess the disorders of the patterned structure of movement. Pattern Kinesiology is particularly important during motor development in children where the building up of motor behaviour and of its disorders appears to be an interaction of reflexes and automatisms. The motoscopic observer can draw his reference from certain typical behaviours of the experimental animal, of the developing child and of neurological patients. Pattern analysis is a better clinical tool than the traditional examination of muscle tone disorders for the early diagnosis of cerebral palsy, for which it may provide new taxonomic criteria.