Balancing on a Slackline: 8-Year-Olds vs. Adults

Abstract

Children are less stable than adults during static upright stance. We investigated whether the same holds true for a task that was novel for both children and adults and highly dynamic: single-legged stance on a slackline. We compared 8-year-olds with young adults and assessed the following outcome measures: time on the slackline, stability on the slackline (calculated from slackline reaction force), gaze movement, head-in-space rotation and translation, trunk-in-space rotation, and head-on-trunk rotation. Eight-year-olds fell off the slackline quicker and were generally less stable on the slackline than adults. Eight-year-olds also showed more head-in-space rotation and translation, and more gaze variability around a visual anchor point they were instructed to fixate. Trunk-in-space and head-on-trunk rotations did not differ between groups. The results imply that the lower postural stability of 8-year-olds compared to adults – as found in simple upright stance – holds true for dynamic, novel tasks in which adults lack the advantage of more practice. They also suggest that the lack of head and gaze stability constitutes an important limiting factor in children’s ability to master such tasks.

A Golden Age for Motor Skill Learning? Learning of an Unfamiliar Motor Task in 10-Year-Olds, Young Adults, and Adults, When Starting From Similar Baselines

“…The present study also made a greater effort to ensure that all participants completed the exact same number of repetitions during the test period. Furthermore, the skill levels at baseline were better aligned than in previous studies (Meulemans et al, 1998;Thomas and Nelson, 2001;Schmitz and Assaiante, 2002;Thomas et al, 2004;Watanabe et al, 2007;Savion-Lemieux et al, 2009;Schärli et al, 2013). The alignment of the skill levels in this study was due to the task being scaled so that it was equally novel and similarly challenging for all participants.…”

Energy expenditure associated with walking speed and angle of turn in children

“…Dynamic postural control (i.e., balance) is defined as the ability to keep the centre of gravity within the base of support while performing a task in a stable condition (Winter et al 1990 ). The previous studies observe deficits in postural control in children when compared to young healthy adults (Bosco and Komi 1980 ; Hytönen et al 1993 ; Schärli et al 2013 ), potentially due to a smaller base of support, which would be anticipated to be associated with a greater energy expenditure during turning. Furthermore, Geldhof et al ( 2006 ) found better postural control in girls compared to boys between the ages of 9–10 years, which could explain the sex differences observed in the present study.…”

Treinamento de Slackline: uma intervenção inovadora para melhorar o equilíbrio e a aptidão física em adultos mais velhos

“…Another study compared the ability of children and young adults to perform a single-legged stance on a slackline (Schärli et al, 2013). Children were found to have greater head-in-space rotation and translation and greater gaze variability around a visual anchor point.…”

“…The slackline offers a small, non-fixed base of support that moves in the mediolateral direction. To control the body's center of gravity and, therefore, maintain balance on the slackline, the practitioner must counterbalance, with the supporting leg, the lateral movement of the foot, requiring rapid restoration of balance (Pfusterschmied et al, 2013a;Schärli et al, 2013;Keller et al, 2012). This recreational sport is known to improve balance, center of gravity control, and posture (Thomas & Kalicinski, 2016;Pfusterschmied et al, 2013b).…”