Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 51-3 | Page 71

J Rehabil Med 2019; 51: 217–224 ORIGINAL REPORT FINGER SOAKING ENHANCES EFFECTS OF LIGHT TOUCH ON REDUCING BODY SWAY IN CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL COORDINATION DISORDER Fu-Chen CHEN, PhD 1 , Li-Liang LI, MSc 2 , Chia-Hua CHU, PhD 1 , Chien-Yu PAN, PhD 1 and Chia-Liang TSAI, PhD 3 From the 1 Department of Physical Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung, 2 Physical Education and Health Center, National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, Kaohsiung, and 3 Institute of Physical Education, Health, and Leisure Studies, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan Objectives: To compare sensitivity to light touch in children with developmental coordination disorder and those with typical development. Also, to investi­ gate how changes/increases in sensitivity to light touch influence the effects of light fingertip touch on reducing body sway in both groups, while controlling for the confounding effects of arm configuration. Methods: Twenty-six children with developmental coordination disorder and 26 typically developing children were enrolled in the study. To change/in­ crease sensitivity to light touch, participants immer­ sed their dominant index finger in a surfactant-wa­ ter solution. Sensitivity to light touch was measured before and after soaking. Participants performed all conditions (no fingertip touch, light fingertip touch, and light fingertip touch after soaking) with the same arm configuration, while body sway was mea­ sured. Results: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the children with developmental coordination disor­ der were less sensitive to light touch than typically developing children (p  < 0.05). For both groups, im­ mersing a fingertip in surfactant-water solution in­ creased sensitivity to light touch (p  < 0.05). Finger soaking enhanced the effects of light fingertip touch on reducing body sway only in those children with developmental coordination disorder (p  < 0.05). Conclusion: Finger soaking can be used as a reha­ bilitation strategy for promoting sensitivity to light touch, as well as for enhancing the effects of light fingertip touch in reducing body sway in children with developmental coordination disorder. Key words: finger soaking; light touch sensitivity; light fing- ertip touch; body sway; developmental coordination disorder. Accepted Jan 24, 2019; Epub ahead of print Feb 27, 2019 J Rehabil Med 2019; 51: 217–224 Correspondence address: Fu-Chen Chen, 116, Heping 1st Road, Lin- gya District, Kaohsiung City 802, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected]. edu.tw D evelopmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a relatively frequent neurodevelopmental disorder among school-age children, with a worldwide prevalen- ce of 6–10% (1). Children with DCD are characterized by impairments in the acquisition and execution of co- ordinated motor skills, including fine manual dexterity, catching and throwing, and postural control (2). One of LAY ABSTRACT This study is the first to compare sensitivity to light touch between children with developmental coordination dis- order and typically developing children. The study also investigated whether changes/increases in sensitivity to light touch can enhance the effects of light touch on reducing body sway in both groups. The results show that: (i) sensitivity to light touch is impaired in child- ren with developmental coordination disorder compared with typically developing children; (ii) finger soaking improves sensitivity to light touch in both groups; and (iii) finger soaking enhances the effects of light touch on dampening body sway only in children with develop- mental coordination disorder. Thus, finger soaking is an effective means of promoting sensitivity to light touch, as well as for enhancing the effects of light touch on re- ducing body sway in children with developmental coor- dination disorder. Finger soaking is therefore suggested as a therapeutic intervention to enhance sensitivity to light touch. This increases the ability of children with developmental coordination disorder to integrate haptic information when maintaining balance during standing. most common motor impairments involves balance, af- fecting approximately 73–87% of children with DCD (3). Prior studies have demonstrated difficulties in maintaining postural stability in children with DCD, as shown by a greater amplitude of body sway (compared with typically developing children; TDC), even when simply standing with the feet shoulder-width apart (4, 5). Bair et al. (6) and Chen & Tsai (7) demonstrated that, compared with no fingertip touch (NT), lightly touching a static reference object with the tip of the dominant index finger, at a level below that necessary to offer mechanical support (< 1 N), is effective in reducing the amplitude of body sway for children with DCD. It has been proposed that additional feedback cues afforded by a light fingertip touch (LT) can provi- de the central nervous system (CNS) with information on awareness of body sway and orientation in space, which can trigger a more stable postural control mecha- nism to maintain balance (8, 9). Therefore, information on LT can have practical applications; for instance, the utilization of LT cues, provided by physical therapists, has been proposed as an effective and practical means to not only reduce mechanical loads imposed on th- erapists, but also to facilitate instant postural stability during balance or gait training (10, 11). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license. www.medicaljournals.se/jrm Journal Compilation © 2019 Foundation of Rehabilitation Information. ISSN 1650-1977 doi: 10.2340/16501977-2524