Commentary on, “Relationships Among Age, Gender, Anthropometric Characteristics, and Dynamic Balance in Children 5 to 12 Years Old”

Abstract

How can I apply this information?"When assessing a child's functional abilities, dynamic balance is important to measure objectively to quantify impairments, track change over time, and justify therapy services. This study provided insight into selecting an appropriate dynamic balance measure for children. A ceiling effect was noted on the Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS) for children older than 8 years. Age should be considered when selecting a balance measure, and the PBS may not be sensitive to identifying mild balance impairments.Parent Comments: I understand from this study that balance skills are not gender specific, rather they are mostly influenced by a child's age. This gives me hope that as my 13-year-old son gets older, his balance will get better. Although I do not know what balance scores are appropriate for a particular age, I know that there are certain tests that are better than others at assessing balance. I will now understand why a physical therapist may choose 1 test over another when I take my child to physical therapy. "What should I be mindful about when apply this information?"The results have limited generalizability to children with atypical development as study participants were from a convenience sample of 160 children with typical development. More comprehensive normative data are needed for the 3 balance tests to be better used for diagnostic or discriminative purposes and to allow comparative research including children with disabilities. The Pediatric Reach Test has not been widely used in research and thus has limited comparability with studies that use the established Functional Reach Test.Parent Comments: This study does not report if interventions helped the children's balance improve. For my child with hypotonia, I would like to know if/how much physical therapy intervention would improve balance, or if his balance would get better on its own as he gets older. I appreciate that there are accurate ways to assess my child's balance skills.