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Ball catching in children with developmental coordination disorder: control of the degrees of freedom

Ball catching in children with developmental coordination disorder: control of the degrees of freedom
Ball catching in children with developmental coordination disorder: control of the degrees of freedom
This study investigated two-handed catching in eight children (four males, four females) aged 7 to 8 years (mean 7y 4mo [SD 3mo]) with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and their age-matched controls (AMCs). Kinematic data were collected to examine Bernstein's (1967) notion of freezing and releasing degrees of freedom (DF). Participants were asked to catch a ball 30 times, delivered in three blocks of 10 trials. Video analysis showed that children with DCD caught significantly fewer balls than their AMCs (p?0.001) counterparts. Kinematic analyses showed that children with DCD exhibited smaller ranges of motion and less variable angular excursions of the elbow joints than their AMCs, and that their elbows are more rigidly coupled (p?0.001). These data suggest that children with DCD rigidly fix and couple their limbs to reduce the number of DF actively involved in the task.
0012-1622
34-38
Utley, Andrea
66e0733b-3c7e-4214-8094-46528405ee9b
Steenbergen, Bert
8ae74f03-0119-4969-976d-d3e52f480f83
Astill, Sarah Louise
d393e9da-53b8-49e5-9447-fe8cbe6dafd1
Utley, Andrea
66e0733b-3c7e-4214-8094-46528405ee9b
Steenbergen, Bert
8ae74f03-0119-4969-976d-d3e52f480f83
Astill, Sarah Louise
d393e9da-53b8-49e5-9447-fe8cbe6dafd1

Utley, Andrea, Steenbergen, Bert and Astill, Sarah Louise (2007) Ball catching in children with developmental coordination disorder: control of the degrees of freedom. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 49 (1), 34-38.

Record type: Article

Abstract

This study investigated two-handed catching in eight children (four males, four females) aged 7 to 8 years (mean 7y 4mo [SD 3mo]) with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and their age-matched controls (AMCs). Kinematic data were collected to examine Bernstein's (1967) notion of freezing and releasing degrees of freedom (DF). Participants were asked to catch a ball 30 times, delivered in three blocks of 10 trials. Video analysis showed that children with DCD caught significantly fewer balls than their AMCs (p?0.001) counterparts. Kinematic analyses showed that children with DCD exhibited smaller ranges of motion and less variable angular excursions of the elbow joints than their AMCs, and that their elbows are more rigidly coupled (p?0.001). These data suggest that children with DCD rigidly fix and couple their limbs to reduce the number of DF actively involved in the task.

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Published date: 1 January 2007

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 44155
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/44155
ISSN: 0012-1622
PURE UUID: fadc6fe4-690a-44ec-97aa-2802f3f26edc

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Date deposited: 16 Feb 2007
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 09:01

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Contributors

Author: Andrea Utley
Author: Bert Steenbergen
Author: Sarah Louise Astill

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