The Effect of Visual Impairment on the Strength of Children's Hip and Knee Extensors

Abstract

A test of the strength of children's hip and knee extensors found that children who were congenitally blind or had low vision had weaker knee extensors than did sighted children, but that after the correction for lean body weight (LBW), these differences were not significant. The children who were blind or had low vision also had weaker hip extensors, but after LBW correction, only the blind children's hip extensors were weaker than those of the children with normal vision. The findings indicate that congenitally blind children may be prone to develop weak leg extensors because of poor body build or the constraints of blindness and that they require extensive physical intervention during infancy.