Study on Experimental Motion Sickness in Children

Abstract

To clarify the characteristics of motion sickness in children we investigated autonomic nervous symptoms and instability evoked by walking while wearing horizontally reversing goggles in 90 children aged 4 to 15 years. Kindergarten children had hardly any autonomic nervous symptoms except headache; however, they often fell, could not stand up or move, and exhibited a to-and-fro deviation gait. Although the frequency and severity of sickness gradually increased during growth, the severity of gait disorder became milder as age increased. On the basis of these findings it seems likely that functions which perceive disorder of spatial orientation and action are immature in young children, and once spatial orientation is impaired, instability becomes very severe, since inadequate control is not stopped by an alarm function against disorientation.

Key Words:

• ataxia
• gait
• reversing goggles.