Abstract
The neural systems responsible for postural control are separate from the neural substrates that underpin control of the hand. Nonetheless, postural control and eye-hand coordination are linked functionally. For example, a stable platform is required for precise manual control tasks (e.g. handwriting) and thus such skills often cannot develop until the child is able to sit or stand upright. This raises the question of the strength of the empirical relationship between measures of postural stability and manual motor control. We recorded objective computerised measures of postural stability in stance and manual control in sitting in a sample of school children (n = 278) aged 3–11 years in order to explore the extent to which measures of manual skill could be predicted by measures of postural stability. A strong correlation was found across the whole sample between separate measures of postural stability and manual control taken on different days. Following correction for age, a significant but modest correlation was found. Regression analysis with age correction revealed that postural stability accounted for between 1 and 10 % of the variance in manual performance, dependent on the specific manual task. These data reflect an interdependent functional relationship between manual control and postural stability development. Nevertheless, the relatively small proportion of the explained variance is consistent with the anatomically distinct neural architecture that exists for ‘gross’ and ‘fine’ motor control. These data justify the approach of motor batteries that provide separate assessments of postural stability and manual dexterity and have implications for therapeutic intervention in developmental disorders.
Highlights
The motor control literature often differentiates between ‘gross’ and ‘fine’ motor control
We reasoned that testing a large number of children on these objective measures of motor control would allow us to detect associations between postural stability and manual motor performance across the age groups and explore the relationship after we controlled for age
The final sample, with data recorded on postural stability in stance and manual control in sitting, comprised of 278 children (134 male, 144 female, age range 3 years 2 months to 11 years 10 months, mean age = 7 years 8 months)
Summary
The motor control literature often differentiates between ‘gross’ and ‘fine’ motor control. The term ‘gross motor’ control is used generally to describe activities involving locomotion and movement of the torso (e.g. walking, maintaining postural stability). Whereas ‘fine motor’ control is associated with tasks that typically involve some form of manual manipulation (Malina et al 2004). Many standardised assessments of childhood motor performance reflect this division in their design and subscales. The Movement ABC-2 comprises of three sets of tasks, each set tailored to assess one of the following subcomponents of motor control: ‘manual dexterity’, ‘aiming and catching’ and ‘balance’ (Henderson et al 2007). The justification for compartmentalising motor control performance into these subcategories is not clear. Henderson and Barnett (1998) state that it follows an: ‘agreed taxonomy’ but this agreement is based only on subjective ‘common sense and clinical experience’. There has been little empirical evidence to justify assessing motor skills along such lines (Schulz et al 2011)
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