Movement Control Strategies in a Dynamic Balance Task in Children With and Without Developmental Coordination Disorder

Abstract

Our study aimed to analyze movement control strategies using predefined criteria for amplitude and differences in these strategies between children with and without DCD. Children with (n = 28) and without DCD (n = 15) were included. A video-observation-tool was used to score the moving body parts during a Wii Fit slalom task over multiple time points. Two-step cluster analysis was used to extract distinct movement strategies. Two different movement strategies were identified that were independently validated by a measure of task performance and a subjective mark of quality of the movement. Initial differences between groups and changes over time toward the more successful strategy were found in both groups, albeit in a different percentage. This study shows that the more efficient movement strategy is seen in the majority of the TD children and only in a small number of children with DCD, even after practice.

Keywords:

• Video observation
• cluster analysis
• developmental coordination disorder
• movement control strategies
• virtual reality

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher's website.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all children, parents and the staff of participating schools for their time and cooperation. The work done by the pediatric physical therapists and students of the University of Applied Sciences; Hanze, Groningen and Avans+, Breda and the University of Groningen in helping to collect the data for this study, is highly appreciated. Many thanks to Hans Gankema for recovering lost video fragments after a hard disk crash and therefore saving the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.