Postural Control: Developmental Effects of Visual and Mechanical Perturbations

Abstract

Posture is part of the perception–action system whihc is goal-oriented with a complex organisation within a meaningful context. It is also a dynamic process involving numerous variables working interactively, and these variables change according to the developmental status of the individual and the integrity of an individual's constitutional make-up. This review selects various aspects of children's postural development concentrating on situations in which the body is externally perturbed, and the reactions of the body to these external forces. Issues such as the developmental progressions of synergies and anticipation of changes in postural disturbances are discussed. These are compared with children showing a range of impairments, including those with cerebral palsy and those with learning difficulties. Unexpected progressions and deviations are present in impaired children, suggesting that blanket remediation strategies are not appropriate, but that a stress on the learning context involving the resources of child together with the task to be performed in its environmental context, is the suitable unit of analysis.