Trunk, head and pelvis interactions in healthy children when performing seated daily arm tasks

Abstract

Development of trunk and head supportive devices for children with neuromuscular disorders requires detailed information about pelvis, trunk and head movement in interaction with upper extremity movement, as these are crucial for daily activities when seated in a wheelchair. Twenty-five healthy subjects (6–20 years old) were included to obtain insight in the physiological interactions between these segments and to assess maturation effects. Subjects performed a maximum range of trunk and head movement tasks and several daily tasks, including forward and lateral reaching. Movements of the arms, head, pelvis, and sub-sections of the trunk were recorded with an optical motion capture system. The range of motion of each segment was calculated. Contributions of individual trunk segments to the range of trunk motion varied with movement direction and therefore with the task performed. Movement of pelvis and all trunk segments in the sagittal plane increased significantly with reaching height, distance and object weight when reaching forward and lateral. Trunk movement in reaching decreased with age. Head movement was opposite to trunk movement in the sagittal (> 50% of the subjects) and transverse planes (> 75% of the subjects) and was variable in the frontal plane in most tasks. Both trunk and head movement onsets were earlier compared to arm movement onset. These results provide insight in the role of the upper body in arm tasks in young subjects and can be used for the design of trunk and head supportive devices for children with neuromuscular disorders.

Don’t forget the trunk in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients: more muscle weakness and compensation than expected

“…In general, patients with weaker arm muscles reached towards shorter distances, however even though the distance was shorter they showed increased trunk movement compared to HC. Lastly, as described before [10], reaching distance and height were set based on subjects’ sitting posture. Small changes in posture could already influence the distance and height and cause variability between tasks within and between subjects.…”

“…We used the same procedure as the one employed in a previous study with healthy children [10]. All participants were seated on a height adjustable chair with a multi-celled air cushion (Starlock, Star Cushion Products, Freeburg, IL), without back- or armrests.…”

“…We used the same data acquisition and analysis as employed in a previous study with healthy children [10]. An optical motion capture system (Vicon, Oxford, UK) was used to record 25 single reflective markers, which were placed on the skin to define positions and orientations of the head, trunk, pelvis and both arms during task performance.…”

“…An optical motion capture system (Vicon, Oxford, UK) was used to record 25 single reflective markers, which were placed on the skin to define positions and orientations of the head, trunk, pelvis and both arms during task performance. The markers divided the trunk initially into four segments (upper thoracic, lower thoracic, upper lumbar and lower lumbar), because the trunk cannot be seen as rigid segment [10]. However to make the data more concise, we decided to report here the trunk movement as one segment (i.e.…”

1st Sitting Workshop for neuromuscular disorders Denmark, 30 September - 1 October 2019

“…Next to this, aberrant sitting postures influence the lungs, heart and abdomen [3][4][5] (presentation by Imelda de Groot). Also, recent research was presented on the interaction between arm activities and trunk in patients with DMD and SMA [6][7][8] . From this research it is clear that there is a difference in trunk control between DMD and SMA.…”