Percentile Values of Selective Motor Control of Upper & Lower Extremities in Healthy Children

Background: The ability to isolate the activation of muscles in response to the demand of a voluntary movement is known as Selective voluntary control. These movements require coordination and precision to adapt to a particular situation depending on the information provided by the senses; therefore, these voluntary movements are responsible for maintaining posture and locomotion. The selective voluntary controlled movements are assessed through performing the reciprocal movements at various joints. Objective: To find the percentile values of upper and lower limbs among the healthy children population. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted within 6 months after approval of the synopsis, including 400 participants using convenient sampling. Both boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 14 years were included. Children were excluded if they had any neurological diseases, including cerebral palsy, or had undergone surgery or structural deformities, acute injuries, or congenital disabilities. The test of arm selective control is a clinical scale used to assess upper extremity movements, where motion at each of the five joints is graded on a three-point scale. Similarly, the selective control assessment of the lower extremities is a three-point clinical tool designed to evaluate selective voluntary motor control of the lower extremities. Quantitative variables were presented as mean and standard deviation. While the qualitative variables were presented as frequency and percentage, and bar charts. Results: Regression analysis of selective motor control of the upper and lower limbs with gender represents a weak positive correlation (0.106). Therefore, the regression analysis of body mass index and age reveals a negative correlation (r=-0.44). The analysis of variance statistics depicts that the selective motor control of the limb is independent of body mass index. Conclusion: The study developed a percentile value normative data of healthy children in the age group 4 to 14 years. An insignificant correlation between gender and body mass index was found.