Proprioceptive and visual motion detection acuity contribute to children’s dynamic postural control

Acquiring efficient postural control strategies is key to children's proper motor development. For that, the brain needs to continuously integrate sensory information and convert it into corrective motor commands. Although this entire process naturally hinges on the reliability of senses, very few studies have investigated sensory acuity and its role in postural stability during development. Clarifying this could lead to a better understanding of conditions, such as developmental coordination disorder, where the impairment of balance control is substantial. Therefore, we aim to determine the extent to which postural stability depends on sensory acuity, specifically proprioception and visual motion detection acuity, in typically developing children. Twenty-five typically developing school-aged children took part in the study. A visual motion detection test (VMDT) assessed their visual motion acuity. An ankle joint position sense test (aJPST) assessed their proprioceptive acuity. Force-plate-based posturography quantified their static standing balance stability with the standard deviation of the center of pressure in the antero-posterior (sdCoP_AP) direction. Finally, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children - Second edition (MABC-2) assessed their dynamic balance along with other motor skills. Correlation analyses and linear mixed models assessed the linear relationship between postural stability and sensory acuity. There was a significant correlation between the balance score of the MABC-2 and both VMDT score (r = 0.60, p = 0.003) and aJPST score (r = -0.47, p = 0.02). However, no such relationship was found between sdCoP_AP during upright standing and the two sensory acuity scores. Importantly, the MABC-2 balance scores were associated with sdCoP_AP, but only to a limited extent. Given that the MABC-2 balance component factors in static and dynamic balance while posturography focuses only on static balance, our results point at a key role of sensory acuity for dynamic balance. Together, these findings bring attention to possible clinical tools for motor impairment detection and subsequent rehabilitation strategies during development.