Gait and Muscle Power Training for Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder

The University of Hong Kong (HKU)

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Developmental Coordination Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Rhythmical auditory stimulation gait training (RAS); Behavioral: Muscle power training (MPT); Other: Controls; Behavioral: Rhythmical auditory stimulation gait training and muscle power training (RAS-MPT)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03838614

001

Details and patient eligibility

About

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of RAS-MPT, RAS alone, MPT alone, and usual care (as a control) for improving the overall gait performance of and reducing falls in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and to explore the relationship between gait performance and falls in this population.

Design: A randomized controlled trial. Sample: 76 children with DCD. Interventions: RAS-MPT, RAS alone, MPT alone, or usual care (12 weeks). Major outcomes: Outcomes will be evaluated at baseline, post-intervention, and a 6-month follow-up. Comprehensive gait analysis will produce spatiotemporal gait parameters (e.g., velocity and stride length), kinematic gait parameters (e.g., knee joint motions), and leg muscle EMG outcomes; an isokinetic test will quantify leg muscle strength and force production time; and fall histories will be obtained via interviews. Anticipated results and significance: The RAS-MPT group is predicted to display the best gait performance, which is associated with reduced fall incidents. This novel training regime can be readily adopted in school, clinical, or home settings to improve locomotor ability in children with DCD, an outcome with positive socioeconomic implications.

Enrollment: 76 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6 to 9 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 6 to 9 years old
• classified as DCD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V
• < 5th percentile on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2)
• a total score of < 46 (for children aged 6 to 7 years 11 months) or < 55 (for children aged 8 to 9 years) on the DCD questionnaire 2007 (Chinese version)
• attending a mainstream school (i.e., intelligence level within the normal range).

Exclusion criteria

• any congenital, cognitive, psychiatric (e.g., comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum disorder), neurological, sensory, hearing, visual, vestibular, musculoskeletal, or cardiopulmonary disorder that may affect test performance
• obesity (body mass index [BMI] >95th percentile)
• receiving active treatment such as physiotherapy
• those unable to follow instructions.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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76 participants in 4 patient groups

RAS-MPT group

Experimental group

Description:

Rhythmical auditory stimulation gait training and muscle power training group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Rhythmical auditory stimulation gait training and muscle power training (RAS-MPT)

RAS group

Experimental group

Description:

Rhythmical auditory stimulation gait training group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Rhythmical auditory stimulation gait training (RAS)

MPT group

Experimental group

Description:

Muscle power training group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Muscle power training (MPT)

Control group

Other group

Description:

Usual care group

Treatment:

Other: Controls