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Development of postural control of gravity forces in children during the first 5 years of walking
1Laboratoire de Physiologie du Mouvement, ER-CNRS 124, Université Paris-sud, Orsay, France. yvon.breniere@lpm.u-psud.fr
Insights
Researchers developed new indexes to measure balance control in young children. Postural capacity for controlling gravity forces, measured by center of mass vertical acceleration, is not fully developed until 5-6 years old.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Motor Control
Background:
- Assessing postural control in children is crucial for understanding motor development.
- Existing methods may not fully capture the dynamic interplay of forces during early walking.
- Force-plate analysis offers a quantitative approach to evaluate balance and gait.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose novel developmental indexes for quantifying balance and gravity force control in children.
- To analyze the development of postural capacity and gait coordination during the first five years of independent walking.
- To establish the age at which children achieve mature postural control for balance.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal analysis of five children over eight sessions, covering 457 step sequences.
- Utilized force-plate data to measure the vertical acceleration of the center of mass (CM) at foot contact.
- Defined a second index based on the covariation between CM vertical acceleration and gait velocity.
Main Results:
- Vertical acceleration of the CM at foot contact was proposed as a developmental index for postural capacity.
- This index, reflecting muscular control of gravitational forces, showed developmental progression.
- The covariation between CM acceleration and gait velocity indicated developing coordination.
Conclusions:
- Children's postural capacity to control balance using leg muscles is not fully developed until 4-5 years of independent walking (approx. 5-6 years of age).
- The proposed indexes provide quantitative measures for assessing developmental milestones in pediatric motor control.
- Further research can refine these indexes for clinical and developmental assessments.
Abstract:
The aim of this work was to propose developmental indexes relative to the control of balance and gravity forces, using force-plate data, for children in their first 5 years of independent walking. The first part of this paper is devoted to the definition of an index to quantify postural capacity during walking. Based on the assumption that the vertical acceleration of center of mass (CM) reflects the capacity of muscular forces between the head-arms-trunk and the stance leg segments to control the external forces, the value of the CM vertical acceleration at foot contact is proposed as a developmental index of the postural capacity of the child to control gravitational forces. This index was analyzed longitudinally in five children, over the course of eight experimental sessions. The children were examined during their first 5 years of independent walking (for a total of 457 step sequences). The covariation between the CM vertical acceleration at foot contact and the gait velocity was considered as a second index characterizing the development of coordination between the postural and dynamic requirements of body progression. From these indexes it was established that the postural capacity needed just to control balance with the leg muscles was not attained before 4-5 years of independent walking, i.e., at about 5-6 years of age.