Effect of practice on learning to maintain balance under dynamic conditions in children: are there sex differences?

The effect of 8 weeks of child designed vs teacher designed games on physical fitness and creativity in children 8-10 years

A healthy and active lifestyle should start from an early age, as habits learned in childhood are more likely to endure. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of child-designed games and teacher-designed games on the physical fitness and creativity of children aged 8-10 years. Thirty children participating in a sports club were randomly divided into two groups: teacher-designed games (TDG) and child-designed games (CDG). Subjects practiced two sessions per week for eight weeks, each session lasting 60 min. Fitness factors, such as strength, muscle endurance, aerobic fitness, agility, speed, and creativity were assessed by valid tests before and after the protocols. A repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. The TDG intervention led to a significant improvement in KTK (37.1% vs. -3.2%) and agility (-3.7% vs. -0.4%) compared to CDG intervention, while CDG intervention was associated with a significant improvement in aerobic capacity (10.1% vs. 3.6%) and in the elaboration of creativity test (23.3% vs. 8.6%). Both groups demonstrated substantial improvements in handgrip strength, static balance, long jump, flexibility, core endurance, and creativity tests, with no significant difference between groups. There were no significant changes in anthropometric features following the intervention. The implementation of combined teacher-designed and child-designed approaches in children's classrooms, in addition to promoting all aspects of physical fitness, may be effective in enhancing physical fitness and creativity.

Test-retest reliability of the single leg stance on a Lafayette stability platform

The validity and reliability of the Lafayette stability platform are well-established for double leg testing. However, no evaluation of single leg (SL) stance on the platform was discovered yet. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the reliability of conducting the SL stance on the Lafayette platform. Thirty-six healthy and active university students (age 23.2 ± 3.2 years; BMI 21.1 ± 3.1 kg/m2) were tested twice, one week apart (week 1; W1, week 2; W2). They stood on their dominant leg with eyes-open (EO) and eyes-closed (EC) in random order. Three successful trials of 20 seconds each were recorded. The duration during which the platform was maintained within 0° of tilt was referred to as time in balance (TIB). At all-time points, TIB was consistently longer in EO (EOW1: 17.02 ± 1.04s; EOW2: 17.32 ± 1.03s) compared to EC (ECW1: 11.55 ± 1.73s; ECW2: 13.08 ± 1.82s). A ±10 seconds difference was demonstrated in the Bland-Altman analysis in both EO and EC. Lower standard error of measurement (SEM) and coefficient of variation (CV) indicated consistent output. High intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values were seen between weeks (EO = 0.74; EC = 0.76) and within weeks (EOW1 = 0.79; EOW2 = 0.86; ECW1 = 0.71; ECW2 = 0.71). Although statistical measures (i.e., SEM, CV, and ICC) indicated good reliability of Lafayette for SL tasks, the wide agreement interval is yet to be clinically meaningful. Factors underlying the wide variation need to be identified before Lafayette is used for TIB assessment.

No sex-specific effects of balance training on dynamic balance performance in healthy children

Background

Cross-sectional studies in children reported better balance performance for girls than for boys. Thus, balance trainability might be different between female and male children. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of balance training (BT) on dynamic balance performance in girls compared to boys.

Methods

Seventeen girls (age: 11.1 ± 0.7 years) and 22 boys (age: 11.1 ± 0.8 years) were assigned to either a BT-group or an active control (CON) group. BT was conducted over eight weeks (two sessions/week) while the CON-groups received their regular physical education lessons during the same period. Before and after treatment, dynamic balance performance was assessed by using the Lower Quarter Y-Balance (YBT-LQ) test. A series of three-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were undertaken to test for within-between effects of Test [×2 (pretest vs. posttest)], Group [×2 (BT-group vs. CON-group)] and Sex [×2 (boys vs. girls)].

Results

The three-way ANCOVA yielded a significant main effect of Test (p = 0.002-0.043, η p 2 = 0.122-0.262) and of Group (all p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.330-0.651) but not of sex for all YBT-LQ reach directions and the composite score. Further, there were significant Test × Group interactions (all p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.330-0.651) in favor of both BT-groups but neither Test × Sex nor Test × Group × Sex interactions were detected.

Conclusions

We conclude that BT is an effective treatment to improve dynamic balance performance in healthy children regardless of their sex. Consequently, girls and boys can be provided with the same BT regime to enhance their postural control.

Effect of practice on learning a balance task in children, adolescents, and young adults

Background

A lower developmental stage of the postural control system in childhood compared to adolescence and adulthood was reported in numerous studies and suggests differences (i.e., less improvements in children than in adolescents and young adults due to the immature postural control system) during learning a balance task. Therefore, the present study examined the effect practice on learning (i.e., retention and transfer) a balance task in healthy children, adolescents, and young adults.

Methods

Healthy children (n = 32, 8.5 ± 0.5 years), adolescents (n = 30, 14.6 ± 0.6 years), and young adults (n = 28, 24.3 ± 3.3 years) practiced balancing on a stabilometer (i.e., to keep the platform as close to horizontal as possible) for 2 days. On the third day, learning was assessed using a retention (i.e., balance task only) and a transfer (i.e., balance task plus concurrent motor interference task) test. The root-mean-square-error (RMSE) was calculated and used as outcome measures.

Results

Over the course of practice, significant improvements (p < 0.001) were detected in favor of children and young adults. However, neither the retention nor the transfer test showed significant group differences.

Conclusion

Our findings indicate that learning a balance task did not seem to be influenced by the developmental stage of the postural control system.

Dominance of Attention Focus and Its Electroencephalogram Activity in Standing Postural Control in Healthy Young Adults

Attention focus changes performance, and external focus (EF) improves performance compared to internal focus (IF). However, recently, the dominance of attention focus, rather than the effectiveness of unilateral EF, has been examined. Although the positive effects of EF on standing postural control have been reported, the dominance of attention focus has not yet been examined. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the dominance of attention focus and its neural mechanism in standing postural control using electroencephalography (EEG). A standing postural control task under IF and EF conditions was performed on healthy young men. Gravity center sway and cortical activity simultaneously using a stabilometer and an EEG were measured. Participants were classified into IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups according to their index of postural stability. The EEG was analyzed, and cortical activity in the theta-wave band was compared between the IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups. Significant neural activity was observed in the left parietal lobe of the IF-dominant group in the IF condition, and in the left frontal lobe of the EF-dominant group in the EF condition (p < 0.05). Differences in EEG activity between IF-dominant and EF-dominant groups, in standing postural control, were detected. This contributes to the development of training methods that consider attentional focus dominance in postural control.

Effects of Different Balance Training Volumes on Children's Dynamic Balance

Concerning balance training, the most effective design of several load dimensions (e. g., training frequency, volume) is unclear. Thus, we determined the effects of different balance training volumes on dynamic balance in healthy children. Three groups of 20 children (age: 11.0±0.7 years; 47% females) were randomly assigned to a balance training group using a low or a high training volume or an active control group that performed regular physical education lessons. All groups trained for 8 weeks (2 sessions/week), whereby balance training volume amounted to 4 min/session and 18-24 min/session for the low- and high-volume group, respectively. Pre- and post-training, balance performance was assessed using the Lower Quarter Y-Balance Test and the Timed-Up-and-Go Test. Fifty-five children completed the study and significant Test x Group interactions were detected for both outcome measures in favor of the two balance training groups. Additionally, improvements in the high-volume group were significantly larger for some measures (Y-balance test anterior reach distance: p <.001, d =.94; Timed-Up-and-Go time: p =.003, d =.81) compared to the low-volume group. The results indicate that balance training is effective to improve balance performance in healthy children and it seems that a 36-48 min/week compared to an 8 min/week training volume provides additional effects.