Profiling Movement and Gait Quality Characteristics in Pre-School Children

Abstract

There is a dearth of suitable metrics capable of objectively quantifying motor competence. Further, objective movement quality characteristics during free play have not been investigated in pre-school children. The aims of this study were to characterize children's free play physical activity and investigate how gait quality characteristics cluster with free play in pre-school children (3-5 years old). Sixty-one children (39 boys; 4.3 ± 0.7 years, 1.04 ± 0.05 m, 17.8 ± 3.2 kg) completed the movement assessment battery for children and took part in free play while wearing an ankle- and hip-mounted accelerometer. Characteristics of movement quality were profiled using a clustering algorithm. Spearman's rho and the Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess relationships between movement quality characteristics and motor competence classification differences in integrated acceleration and spectral purity, respectively. Significant differences were found between motor competency classifications for spectral purity and integrated acceleration (p < .001). Spectral purity was hierarchically clustered with motor competence and integrated acceleration. Significant positive correlations were found between spectral purity, integrated acceleration and motor competence (p < .001). This is the first study to report spectral purity in pre-school children and the results suggest that the underlying frequency component of movement is clustered with motor competence.

Actual vs. Perceived Motor Competence in Children (8–10 Years): An Issue of Non-Veridicality

“…Despite the mounting evidence for the benefit of qualifying contextual MC or movement quality data, there remains an over-predominance in focusing on the quantity of activity, rather than the quality [9,10]. Only recently has there been a trend towards a joint consideration of exercise quantity and quality [9][10][11][12][13][14]. A pivotal meta-analysis highlighted that PA interventions dedicated to improving quantity of PA report little effect [15].…”

Motivational Climate towards the Practice of Physical Activity, Self-Concept, and Healthy Factors in the School Environment

“…This research aims to analyze the constructs mentioned in the previous paragraphs, due to the importance of these factors in the psychosocial health of school children. These subjects in school-age children have certain characteristics that distinguish them from those in adolescents and adults, due to a change from childhood to preadolescence occurring at this age [25]. During this stage, the physical development of school children has reached maturity and harmony, preparing the body for the pubertal developments characteristic of adolescence [26].…”

Physical activity, motor competence and movement and gait quality: A principal component analysis

“…Although empirical and conceptual evidence exists to support the reciprocal relationship between motor competence and PA (Stodden et al, 2008), there is a limited evident base of motor competence related to PA measurement in pre-school children, largely due to the complexity in examining such constructs in this age group (Adamo et al, 2016;Goldfield, Harvey, Grattan, & Adamo, 2012). When studies have investigated PA and motor competence they tend to examine this as a relationship, where large variability in not only motor competence, but also PA, is reported, which can conceivably mask, or indeed create spurious, responses or relationships (Adamo et al, 2016;Clark, Barnes, Swindell, et al, 2018).…”

“…Recently, a novel metric, spectral purity, has been proposed as a viable measure of movement and gait quality, where the purity of the fundamental frequency spectra (signal) during movement, specifically relating to gait, is quantified (Clark, 2017). Interestingly, in Clark et al (2017), it was suggested that spectral purity may be a viable proxy for motor competence, assessed using MABC2, and movement quality in pre-school children.…”