Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorders subjects (ASD) is characterized by postural control deficits. This study aimed to explore the effect of a short postural rehabilitation training program on postural capabilities in children with ASD. Two groups (G1 and G2) of twenty children with ASD of IQ-, sex- and age- matched (mean age 11.7 ± 2.4 years) were included in this study. Posture was recorded by using the Balance Quest from Framiral on unstable platform in three different viewing conditions. The rehabilitation program consisted in two distinct postural control training exercises. Postural recordings were performed twice at T1 and T2 for both groups of children. Between T1 and T2 a 6-minute postural training was performed by the G1 group only, while the G2 group had a 6-minute of rest. Children were allocated randomly to the G1 or G2 groups. At T1, postural instability was similar for both groups of ASD children (G1 and G2) desp+\\ite viewing conditions. At T2, we observed an improvement of postural control related to a mixed effect of training rehabilitation but also of test-retest. Knowing the potential of new rehabilitation strategies, the impact of postural control deficit in ASD children needs to be reconsidered. Well design case-control studies are requested to ensure scientific validity of postural rehabilitation training program.
Highlights
Autism Spectrum Disorders subjects (ASD) is characterized by postural control deficits
Bonferroni post hoc test showed that the surface of Center of Pressure (CoP) at T2 was higher for G2 than for G1 (p < 0.04) in the absence of any significant difference between G2 and G1 at baseline (T1)
Post hoc analysis revealed the surface of CoP was higher in EC with respect to EO conditions (p < 0.001), in accordance with recurrent findings in the literature showing the postural control was dependent from somatosensory inputs
Summary
Autism Spectrum Disorders subjects (ASD) is characterized by postural control deficits. Postural instability in children with ASD was more significant when somatosensory inputs were affected, such as standing on an unstable platform with foams under the feet or when wearing a vibrating apparatus on the neck[7,13,15,16,17,18]. All of these studies reported a significantly larger body sway displacement and/or faster sway velocity in subjects with ASD compared to peers with typical neurodevelopment.
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