The effect of physical training on static balance in young people with intellectual disability.
Unstable-surface training twice a week gives only a whisper of better balance in adults with Down syndrome.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Storch et al. (2012) asked if wobble boards and therapy balls could help adults with Down syndrome stand steadier.
Twice a week the group met for sensorimotor games on squishy surfaces. A second group kept their usual routine.
After the program ended the researchers checked who swayed less on a force plate.
What they found
Only one balance score moved enough to count as significant. The rest stayed flat.
The authors call the gains “modest” and admit most comparisons missed the mark.
How this fits with other research
Enkelaar et al. (2013) looked at older adults with ID and saw big balance drops compared to same-age peers. Their message: expect large deficits, then pick a test that shows them.
Shepperdson (1995) tracked Down-syndrome skills for nine years and found tiny service-related gains. Together these papers warn that small, short exercise doses may not beat the slow, built-in trajectory.
Rana et al. (2024) tried cartoon demos during motor tests and boosted attention without lifting scores. The pattern repeats: you can perk up engagement yet still land in the same place.
Why it matters
For BCBAs writing gross-motor goals, this study is a yellow light. Unstable-surface play is fun and safe, but one extra session a week probably won’t show on your data sheet. Pair it with stronger doses, or fold balance work into daily routines like waiting in line or washing hands, then measure with the same quiet stance test used here so you can spot real change.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Intellectual disability affects all spheres of people's lives who suffer from it. It lowers the level of intellectual functioning, often stigmatizes, characteristically changing features, and decreases motor performance. Unfortunately, modern medicine cannot cure intellectual disability; however, there is a chance to improve the quality of life of people with mental retardation by means of physical exercises and by enhancing coordination, the quality of gait and efficiency in performing everyday activities. This paper deals with observations of static balance in 40 young females and males with mild Down syndrome, out of which 20 were subjected to a three-month sensorimotor training programme. The participants performed exercises with rehabilitation balls and air pillows twice a week, and the remaining persons constituted a control group. The balance platform test conducted at the beginning of the experiment revealed that the level of static one-legged balance was similar in both groups. A significant difference was noted in the length of the path of the general centre of gravity (COG) and the time frame in which the vertical projection of COG remained within the 13 mm radius circle, between the result of the test conducted under visual control and with the eyes closed, both in the group of the participants performing exercises and the ones who did not do them. After the training sessions the results of both tests improved in the group of the persons subjected to the training programme, however differences between the groups were not statistically significant, apart from the comparison of the time of keeping COG within the 13 mm radius circle at the beginning and at the end of the experiment by the participants who were physically active. Our results lead to a conclusion that exercises with the use of unstable surfaces improve deep sensibility in people with mild mental retardation.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.11.015