Relationship between balance and gait in children with a risk of developmental coordination disorders and their typically developing peers

Abstract

Background: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as developmental dyspraxia, is a chronic neurological disorder beginning in childhood, that can affect planning of movements and coordination. Balance dysfunction is one of the most common sensorimotor impairments observed among children with DCD, which may have influence on daily living activities, such as walking. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare spatio-temporal parameters of gait between typically development (TD) children and children at risk of DCD, who had also problems with balance and assess the impact of these problems on selected parameters and phases in a gait cycle. Methods: Children (n = 28, Mage = 8.6 ± 1.0 years) were part of this study. The results of MABC-2 were used to classify motor competence level in children and also for a determinantion of the balance level. Optojump-Next was used to collect spatio-temporal parameters related to the gait patterns. The IBM SPSS-21 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: The results showed that children at risk of DCD were different from TD children in the step length (p < .001), in the stride length (p < .001), in the stance phase (p = .007, resp. p = .017), in the double support phase (p = .011, resp. p = .032), in the single support phase (p < .001), in the contact phase (p = .021), in the loading phase (p = .047), in the pre-swing phase (p = .002), in the swing phase (p = .015, resp. p = .004) and in the step speed (p < .001). Conclusion: The majority of previous works, which are focused on walking in children at risk of DCD, are based only on results of the evaluation of the complex motor level of children and they ignore the results of the balance level. This can largely distort conclusions, because not all the children with DCD have balance problems. It is necessary to work with the result of single tests, which are closely connected with the task and not only with the total test score of test batteries, because they may have a big impact on the final result.

Keywords

• balance problems
• gait patterns
• motor competence
• neurological disorder