IMU-based Assessment of Motor Control in a Population of Young Subjects With Paramorphisms and Dysmorphisms

Evaluation of Motor Control During Developmental Age in Young Patients With Paramorphisms and Dysmorphisms Using Inertial Measurement Units

While various complex pathologies of the developmental age, such as Infantile Cerebral Palsy or Neuromuscular Diseases, are notoriously considered causes of alteration of locomotor development, it is scarcely known whether conditions much more frequent in the pediatric population, the so-called "Paramorphisms or Dysmorphisms", may be associated with more or less noticeable changes in locomotor development.

On a few studies, flat feet and hyperlaxity has been correlated with a motor control delay or poorer motor performance, based on complex clinical tests or on stereophotogrammetry movement analysis.

Although promising, these preliminary studies, in addition to not providing information on the possible influence of other paramorphisms, such as varus and valgus of the knees, do not provide conclusive indications.

The aim of this study is to investigate, through clinical tests and wearable inertial units, the motor control of a pediatric population affected by Paramorphisms or Dysmorphisms and to compare them with a population of healthy controls, matched by age, taken from the recently developed control data set from Bisi and Stagni.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Born at term
• Without known delay in motor development
• Finding of one or more paramorphisms or dysmorphisms of the developmental age (flat or cavus foot, valgus or varus talipes, valgus or varus knee, scoliotic attitude or scoliosis, hyperkyphosis or hyperlordosis, generalized or focused hyperlaxity, heterometry of the AAII, torsional defects AAII)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Preterm birth
• Diagnosis of pathologies compromising motor control (Infantile Cerebral Palsy, Neuromuscular Diseases, Spina Bifida, Arthrogryposis, Genetic Syndromes)