Article

Obesity reduces the efficiency of postural and movement control mechanisms.
However, the effects of obesity on a functional motor task and postural control
in standing and seated position have not been closely quantified among children.
The aim of this study is to examine the effects of obesity on the execution of
aiming tasks performed in standing and seated conditions in children. Twelve
healthy weight children and eleven obese children aged between 8 and 11 years
pointed to a target in standing and seated position. The difficulty of the aiming
task was varied by using 2 target sizes (1.0 cm and 5.0 cm width; pointing to the
smaller target size needs a more precise movement and constitutes a more
difficult task). Hand movement time (MT) and its phases were measured to quantify
the aiming task. Mean speed of the center of pressure displacement (COP speed)
was calculated to assess postural stability during the movement. Obese children
had significantly higher MTs compared to healthy-weight children in seated and
standing conditions explained by greater durations of deceleration phase when
aiming. Concerning the COP speed during the movement, obese children showed
significantly higher values when standing compared to healthy-weight children.
This was also observed in the seated position. In conclusion, obesity adds a
postural constraint during an aiming task in both seated and standing conditions
and requires obese children to take more time to correct their movements due to a
greater postural instability of the body when pointing to a target with the
upper-limb.
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Langue : ANGLAIS