The Relationship Between Postural Control and Fundamental Movement Skills in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder, Mild Cerebral Palsy, and Typical Development.

IMPORTANCE

Impaired fundamental movement skills are prevalent among children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and mild cerebral palsy (CP). Although postural control is a prerequisite for gross motor skills, its role in fundamental movement skills is understudied.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to determine the extent to which postural control contributes to fundamental movement skill performance in children with DCD, mild CP, and with typical development (TD).

DESIGN

This was a case-control study.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 127 children aged 5.0 to 10.9 years (DCD [N = 48], TD [N = 59)], mild spastic CP [N = 20]). Children with CP were classified as Gross Motor Function Classification System I (N = 11) or II (N = 9), and as having either unilateral (N = 11) or bilateral CP(N = 9).

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The Test of Gross Motor Development-3 (TGMD-3) evaluated fundamental movement skills, and the Kids-Balance Evaluation Systems Test-2 (Kids-BESTest-2) assessed postural control. The domain and total scores of both tests were used for analysis.

RESULTS

Children with TD significantly outperformed those with DCD and mild CP, while DCD and mild CP performed similarly. Across groups the Kids-BESTest-2 and TGMD-3 correlated significantly (r = 0.42-0.77). The total Kids-BESTest-2 score and group (TD-DCD-mild CP) explained 69% of locomotor skill variance but did not significantly explain ball skill performance (R2 = 0.40). Among postural control domains, only anticipatory postural adjustments contributed to fundamental movement skills. Group effects were larger (ηp2 = 0.15-0.31) than the effects of Kids-BESTest-2 scores (ηp2 = 0.01-0.12).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The findings suggest that postural control plays a role in locomotor performance but that unique group-specific factors influence this relationship. Further research should investigate the impact of postural control task-oriented training on fundamental movement skills, and should examine the influence of additional factors, such as body functions and environmental influences on fundamental movement skill development.