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Core Muscle Endurance and Its Relationship to Functional Balance and Motor Play Skills in Kindergartners

Year: 2012
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Development of balance and functional motor skills in children is a complex phenomenon that requires the interaction of many systems.There is not currently one reliable, practical, play-based method to measure the musculoskeletal contribution of the trunk to balance and gross motor function in young children.AIM: To investigate relationships between anthropometrics, age, measures of trunk muscle strength, and functional measures of balance and gross motor skill in Kindergarten children enrolled in regular education.METHODS: Twenty participants, 7 male, 13 female (mean age: 5yr 8mo), assessed with 1) Prone Extension timed hold test 2) Supine Flexion timed hold test 3) Functional Reach Test (FRT), and 4) three subtests (Balance; Running Speed and Agility; Strength) of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Performance-2 nd edition (BOT-2).Anthropometric data was collected for height and weight to be analyzed as possible confounding variables.RESULTS: The only variables that were significantly correlated were height and weight (r= .834p < .01).There was a moderate correlation at a marginally significant level between 2 of the BOT-2 subtests: Running Speed/Agility and Strength (r= .428p < .06).INTERPRETATION: The positional hold tests may not be valid measures of core muscle strength.There is neither a clear relationship between core muscle control and balance nor core muscle control and overall motor function.Overall body strength, such as measured by the BOT-2 subtest, may relate more to functional motor performance than isolated core muscle strength.iii Dedication This document is dedicated to my dear husband, Jay, and to our precious children, Elyse, Isaac
Language: English
Field: Psychology
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2602743201
FWCI:
Cites: 60
Cited by: 1
Related to: 10