The influence of concurrent cognitive tasks on postural sway in children.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of concurrent tasks on postural sway in children.


METHODS
Nineteen fourth-grade students, while standing on a balance platform, were asked to stand still, count backward, and read second-grade level sentences. The AMTI Accusway System was used to calculate the length of center of pressure path (LCOP), sway range (SR), and variability (SV) in mediolateral (ML) and anteroposterior (AP) directions of sway.


RESULTS
Analysis of variance revealed a main effect of cognitive task condition for SR-AP, SR-ML, SV-AP, and SV-ML. Post hoc comparisons revealed lower values of those four dependent measures for the counting backward task than for the standing still task and lower SV-AP for the counting backward task than for the reading task. In addition, there was a trend toward greater LCOP when performing a concurrent cognitive task.


CONCLUSIONS
The demands of concurrent cognitive tasks while standing affect postural sway in children. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of postural control in children and may explain why improvements in postural skills attained in clinical settings may not transfer to improved performance in other settings.
Blanchard
Yvette
Y
Department of Physical Therapy, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA. blanchard@hartford.edu
Carey
Shannon
S
Coffey
Jocelyn
J
Cohen
Alison
A
Harris
Trisha
T
Michlik
Stephanie
S
Pellecchia
Geraldine L
GL
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors