Dual-task effects on postural sway during sit-to-stand movement in children with Down syndrome.
Giving kids with Down syndrome a simple hand task while they stand up reduces their postural sway.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched kids with Down syndrome stand up from a chair. Some kids also held a small box while standing. Force plates under the chair recorded tiny body wobbles.
The same test was given to typically developing kids for comparison.
What they found
Kids with Down syndrome wobbled more than peers when they stood up without the box. Adding the box cut their wobble. Typical kids showed a tiny rise in wobble with the box.
The extra task seemed to make Down syndrome kids tighten their bodies, not fall apart.
How this fits with other research
Borji et al. (2023) saw the opposite pattern in older Down syndrome teens. Those teens wobbled more, not less, when they added a talking task while simply standing. The age gap and task type explain the flip.
Rigoldi et al. (2011) first showed that Down syndrome people use faster side-to-side corrections at every age. The current study adds that a simple manual job can briefly calm those fast corrections.
Matson et al. (2009) spotted heavy co-contraction on a seesaw in Down syndrome. The box-holding result looks like the same stiffening plan, now seen during sit-to-stand.
Why it matters
You can borrow the box trick tomorrow. Hand your client a light toy before you ask for a stand-up. The external job may cut sway and boost success. Watch for over-stiffening, but use the brief stability to sneak in more reps.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Cognitive and postural tasks require common cognitive mechanisms, resulting in conflicts when both tasks are simultaneously performed. The presence of neuromotor dysfunctions, such as Down syndrome, may impair coordination processes required to perform dual-tasks. The objective of this study was to investigate the dual-task effects on postural sway during sit-to-stand movements in typical children and children with Down syndrome in a cross-sectional study. METHODS: Twenty six typical children (10.2 ± 2.4 years) and 21 with Down syndrome (10.3 ± 2.3 years) performed sit-to-stand in the following conditions: (1) simple task; (2) dual-task bimanual activity (DT-Bim): sit-to-stand while carrying a tray using both hands; (3) dual-task unimanual dominant activity (DT-Uni-Dom): sit-to-stand while holding a plastic cup simulating water using the dominant hand; (4) dual-task unimanual non-dominant activity (DT-Uni-Nondom): sit-to-stand movement while holding a plastic cup simulating water. For data analysis, sit-to-stand was divided into three phases: preparation (phase 1), rising (phase 2), and stabilisation (phase 3). The following variables were calculated for each phase: anterior-posterior and medial-lateral amplitude of centre-of-pressure displacement, anterior-posterior and medial-lateral velocity of centre-of-pressure sway and area of centre-of-pressure sway. RESULTS: Children with Down syndrome showed greater sway than typical children in all sit-to-stand phases. Typical children showed greater anterior-posterior amplitude in phase 2 of sit-to-stand during DT-Uni Nondom compared with DT-Uni Dom. Children with Down syndrome during simple task condition showed greater and faster values sway in phases 2 and 3 of sit-to-stand movement than in DT-Bim activity, DT-Uni Dom activity and DT-Uni Nondom activity. During the condition of DT-Bim activity, these children showed lower anterior-posterior velocity of sway in phase 2 than during DT-Uni Dom activity. CONCLUSIONS: Children with Down syndrome showed greater postural sway during sit-to-stand than typical children. The addition of a concurrent motor task to sit-to-stand impacted postural sway in different intensities and in different ways across groups. Dual-tasks increased body sway in typical children in the DT-Uni Nondom condition compared with dominant one. In children with Down syndrome, dual-tasks decreased body sway, apparently resulting in a postural strategy of stiffness.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2019 · doi:10.1111/jir.12599