Postural Stabilities in the Various Sensory Conditions and Balance Training of Children with Tourette Syndrome

Background and Purpose: Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropathology disease. Recent study indicated postural instability in standing still tasks occurred in children with TS. Despite the main sensory input comes from the visual, vestibular and somatosensory systems may change their postural stability, their postural adjustments in the various sensory conditions were not yet explored. The purposes of this proposed study will 1) to investigate the influences of vestibular, visual and somatosensory systems in postural stability of children with TS, as compared to normal adults, 2) to develop a TS-specific balance training protocol for children with TS at home, and 3) to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of such intervention on promoting postural stabilities in children with TS. Methods: A sample of conveniences of 130 children with TS or healthy children will participate in a series of clinical and laboratory postural stabilities measurements. In phase I, 50 children with TS and 50 healthy age-matched control children undergo the different sensory conditions test protocol. The protocol includes six different conditions in the standing still and the single leg standing:(1) normal vision, fixed support; (2) eyes closed, fixed support; (3) vision sway-referenced, fixed support; (4) normal vision, support sway-referenced; (5) eyes closed, support surface sway-referenced; (6) vision and support surface both sway-referenced. In phase 2, a TS-specific balance training protocol for children with TS will be developed through the expert consensus meeting. In phase III, 30 children were randomly assigned to a control group - regular daily activities, or to an experimental group - regular daily activities plus the above TS-specific home-based balance training for six weeks. Laboratory postural stabilities analysis will be recorded by costume-made Bertec force plates (Bertec Corporation, Columbus) and Advance Mechanical Technology Inc., Watertown, MA) and MA-300 electromyography (EMG) system. Chi-square analysis and one-way ANOVA will be used for data comparisons. Potential Benefits: The results of this study will be helpful to determine possible postural abnormality of children with TS due to the conflicts of sensory information, as well as provide the appropriate intervention strategy to promote postural control in children with TS.

Project ID:PC9907-2116
External Project ID:NSC99-2314-B182-019