Equilibrium coordination tests among children: a feasibility study

Introduction
Normative reference scores for most of the equilibrium coordination tests were not established Hence, we aimed for feasibility of establishing the normative reference scores of sideways walking, tandem walking, cross-stepping, heel walking and toe walking among children so that the methodology, procedures, and limitations could be taken into account when large scale study will be conducted.

Material and methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted where 284 children (148 males and 136 females) of age group 8-15 years were recruited from a senior secondary school to perform 5 equilibrium coordination tests. Children were asked to perform all tests in random order and the time taken [in seconds] (s) was recorded. The mean of three readings were used for statistical analysis. The normality of the data was assessed through the Kolmogorov Smirnov test. The descriptive statistics have been described in geometric mean (GM) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results
Age, weight, height, and BMI of the recruited children were 10.8 ± 2.4 years, 33.2 ± 10.6 kg, 138.6 ± 11.7 cm, and 16.8 ±2 .9 kg/m2 respectively. The normative data of the trial for sideways walking, tandem walking, cross stepping, heel walking, and toe walking come out to be 23.7 ± 8.8 seconds, 37.7 ± 6.7 seconds, 33.9 ± 11.3 seconds, 18.6 ± 8.8 seconds, and 14. 5± 11.2 seconds respectively.

Conclusions
The study was found to be feasible to conduct a large scale study more sample population such that the data can be generalized to the global population.