The balance control of young children under different shod conditions in a naturalistic environment

Abstract

BackgroundA primary function of footwear is to protect the feet from environmental conditions and possibly, to reduce the risk of injury. In addition, the use of footwear may be critical to improve the balance control of young children at their early years. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of different balance tasks in young children under barefoot (unshod) and own covered footwear (shod) conditions. Research questionDoes footwear affect the balance control of young children? MethodsTwenty-three young children (n = 23, M age = 6.32 ± 0.27 years, age range: 5–6 years) participated in this study. Three balance tasks, 1) One-leg stand, 2) Walking heels raised and 3) Jumping on mats were used to determine the balance proficiency of young children. ResultsThe mean scores of the young children were significantly higher with a lower standard deviation under shod condition for the task of walking heels raised. SignificanceThese results suggest that own covered footwear could aid in providing increased postural stability for complex and novel balance tasks which are highly unstable.