Assessment of mobility and balance in children and adolescents: Literature review

Abstract

Neuropsychomotor development is characterized of physical and neurological changes that start from conception and involve biological, social, affective and psychological aspects. A change in the middle of this process can be a sign of motor disorder or delay. Therefore, it is important to carry out an assessment that makes it possible to identify deficits, limitations and
restrictions. For this, it is necessary to use validated and monitored tests or scales, which ensured an adequate measurement of disability and a better interpretation of the findings. The objective of this study is to carry out a
literature review on the use and reliability of the Timed Up and Go (TUG), Functional Reach Test (FRT), Timed One Legged Stance (TOLS), Bruininks–Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) and Timed Up tests and DownStairs (TUDS) to assess mobility and functional balance in children and adolescents. For this purpose, platforms were consulted PubMed, PEDro, Scholar Google and SciELO platforms were consulted, using the keywords “Functional Mobility”, “Functional balance”, “Functional assessment”, “Children”, “Adolescent”, “Test”, “Balance”, “Mobility”, excluding studies with an adult population, systematic reviews or with discussions considered irrelevant to the proposed objective. 26 studies were chosen for a selective reading in full and, among them, 17 articles were selected that met the excluded criteria. It was concluded that the test BOMTP showed low reliability with limited use in the clinical setting, however, it is efficient in assessing gross motor proficiency in children with DMD in the early stages of the disease, in addition to being able to be used to monitor the motor development of individuals with ASD. The FRT, TOLS, TUG and TUDS tests were considered easy to apply and low cost, showing good reliability in children with motor deficits. TUDS proved to be ineffective when compared to TUG for use in the
population with Down Syndrome. Individuals with CP perform the TUG test more easily when compared to the TUDS test. In the evaluation of static and dynamic balance by the FRT and TUDS testicles, the first one was trained to be easier for individuals with more severe impairments. Modifications can optimize the reliability and application of certain tests.