Balance findings in a child before and after a mild head injury.
OBJECTIVE
This case study reviews the preinjury and postinjury balance performance of an 11-year-old child who sustained a mild head injury.


METHODS
A prospective design was used to document balance 5 days before injury and 1, 4, and 12 weeks after injury.


METHODS
The assessments used were the balance subtest of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, the Pediatric Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction for Balance, and the Postural Stress Test.


RESULTS
One week after the trauma, balance deficits were observed in the three tests. The deficits improved 4 weeks after the injury, and performance remained stable over the following 2 months for two of the evaluations except for the Postural Stress Test performance, which failed to improve in the 3-month period after trauma.


CONCLUSIONS
The good recovery of balance skills observed over the first month after injury seems to validate the current activity restrictions imposed on children after a mild head injury. However, the persistence of poor performance in the area of reactions to external perturbations indicates that some deficits may persist beyond what is expected with this population.
Gagnon
I
I
Department of Physical Therapy, McGill University Health Center-Montreal Children's Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. isabelle.gagnon6@sympatico.ca
Friedman
D
D
Swaine
B
B
Forget
R
R
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D004856:Postural Balance; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome