Spatial and temporal postural analysis: a developmental study in healthy children

• Spatial domain analysis showed a significant decrease of surface and mean velocity of the center of pression as age's subject increased.
• The spectral power indices analyzed by wavelet transformation in medio-lateral and antero-posterior direction decreased significantly with increasing of age of subjects.
• The canceling time in antero-posterior direction only increased with age.

The aim of this study was to explore further the development of postural control in healthy children. The novelty of this study was to resort to both spatial and temporal analysis of the center of pressure (CoP).Forty-six healthy children from 4 to 16 years old (mean age: 9.1 ± 3 years) and a group of 13 healthy adults (mean age: 25 ± 3 years) participated to this study. Postural control was tested on both a stable and an unstable platform in three different visual conditions: eyes open fixating a target, under optocinetic stimulation, and eyes closed.Resul*ts showed a significant decrease of both surface area as well as mean velocity of the center of pressure (CoP) during childhood. With the children's increasing age, the spectral power indices decreased significantly and the canceling time increased significantly.Such improvement in postural control could be due to a better use of sensorial inputs and cerebellar integration during development, allowing subjects to achieve more efficient postural control.