title: Dynamics of self-injurious behaviors.
abstract: Self-injurious behavior was examined in a case study of head-banging by an 8-year-old girl with profound mental retardation and an autistic disorder. Trajectories of the arm movements and impact forces of the head blows were determined from a dynamic analysis of videotapes. Results revealed a high degree of cycle-to-cycle consistency in the qualitative dynamics of the limb motions, with one hand motions being faster than those with two hands (inphase and antiphase) and the motions with the helmet about 25% faster than those without the helmet. The impact force of SIBs as a percentage of body weights are near the low end of forces generated in boxing blows and karate hits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802, USA. kmn1@psu.edu
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Newell
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Sprague
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Pain
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Deutsch
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Meinhold
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001835:Body Weight; D001914:Boxing / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006260:Head Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D016139:Martial Arts / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D019956:Stereotypic Movement Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D014741:Video Recording