Coordination variability during running in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.
Autistic teens run with extra stride-to-stride wobble that burns energy and invites injury.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers filmed 24 autistic teens and 24 matched peers while they jogged on a treadmill. They tracked how each foot landed and measured stride-to-stride timing and spacing.
The team used 3-D motion capture to count tiny changes in step length, width, and timing. More changes mean the body is working harder to stay steady.
What they found
Autistic runners showed almost twice as much stride-to-stride wobble as the control group. Their legs kept switching small details every step.
Extra wobble wastes energy and raises injury risk. It also makes running feel harder, so kids may quit exercise sooner.
How this fits with other research
Chen et al. (2018) saw the same teens move their hands more slowly during a mental rotation task. Both studies point to one core issue: motor plans work, but they run on a slow, shaky loop.
Berkovits et al. (2014) found kids with developmental coordination disorder score low on fitness tests because timing errors spoil repetitive jumps. The treadmill data now show timing errors also spoil running in autism.
Tonizzi et al. (2022) meta-analysis links worse inhibitory control to ASD plus ADHD. High stride variability could be the body’s version of slow stop-signal control seen in Vos et al. (2013) ADHD sample.
Why it matters
If a teen avoids PE, don’t assume laziness. Check their gait first. Simple cues—"land softer" or "keep feet hip-width"—can cut wobble. Add short treadmill bursts in therapy so they feel smooth rhythm. Better motor efficiency today may mean more exercise, less obesity, and stronger social play tomorrow.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Walking and running are popular forms of physical activity that involve the whole body (pelvis/legs and arms/torso) and are coordinated by the neuromuscular system, generally without much conscious effort. However, autistic persons tend not to engage in sufficient amounts of these activities to enjoy their health benefits. Recent reports indicate that autistic individuals tend to experience altered coordination patterns and increased variability during walking tasks when compared to non-autistic controls. Greater stride-to-stride coordination variability, when the task has not changed (i.e. walking at same speed and on same surface), is likely indicative of motor control issues and is more metabolically wasteful. To date, although, research examining running is unavailable in any form for this population. This study aimed to determine if coordination variability during running differs between autistic adolescents and age, sex, and body mass index matched non-autistic controls. This study found that increased variability exists throughout the many different areas of the body (foot-leg, left/right thighs, and opposite arm-opposite thigh) for autistic adolescents compared to controls. Along with previous research, these findings indicate autistic persons exhibit motor control issues across both forms of locomotion (walking and running) and at multiple speeds. These findings highlight issues with motor control that can be addressed by therapeutic/rehabilitative programming. Reducing coordination variability, inherently lessening metabolic inefficiency, may be an important step toward encouraging autistic youth to engage in sufficient physical activity (i.e. running) to enjoy physiological and psychological benefits.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2022 · doi:10.1177/13623613211044395