Abstract (300 words maximum)
INTRODUCTION: In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published updates to their checklists for the milestones children should achieve during typical development, and removed crawling entirely, citing a lack of normative data, inconsistent definitions, and variability timing of crawling onset (1,2). This project collected normative kinematic and spatiotemporal data on typically developing (TD) crawling infants and crawlers with limb loss (LL).
METHODS: Eleven TD infants were assessed every two weeks between onset of crawling and transition to walking. Six LL infants were assessed once without the use of a prosthesis. Infants crawled on a pressure-sensing mat that was used to calculate crawling speed, cadence, percent limb support, anterior-posterior pressure ratio, and bilateral pressure ratio.
RESULTS: As TD children grew, crawling became faster, with some reducing speed as they began to walk. Crawling width became narrower, and the percent of each cycle with all four limbs on the ground was significantly reduced. Children in the LL cohort were older than in the TD cohort. They crawled slower, showed significantly narrower stride width, and bore more weight on arms.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Study outcomes showed demonstrable changes during neuromotor development. Several measures, including speed, width, and percent quadruple limb support, were sensitive to differences in a typical and atypical population. These data fill the gap cited by the CDC and may be useful reestablishing crawling as a development milestone. In addition, understanding of the biomechanics of typical crawling development could enable early detection of some atypical development patterns such as those found in cerebral palsy, which is often not detected until children have progressed to walking.
REFERENCES
[1] Zubler, J.M. et al. Pediatrics. 149(3), 1-29, 2022.
[2] Kretch, K.S. et al. Ped Phys Therap. 34(4), 440-448, 2022.
Funded by a grant from the Gerber Foundation.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
WCHHS - Exercise Science and Sport Management
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Mark Geil
Biomechanical Differences in Crawling between Typically Developing Infants and Infants with Limb Loss
INTRODUCTION: In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published updates to their checklists for the milestones children should achieve during typical development, and removed crawling entirely, citing a lack of normative data, inconsistent definitions, and variability timing of crawling onset (1,2). This project collected normative kinematic and spatiotemporal data on typically developing (TD) crawling infants and crawlers with limb loss (LL).
METHODS: Eleven TD infants were assessed every two weeks between onset of crawling and transition to walking. Six LL infants were assessed once without the use of a prosthesis. Infants crawled on a pressure-sensing mat that was used to calculate crawling speed, cadence, percent limb support, anterior-posterior pressure ratio, and bilateral pressure ratio.
RESULTS: As TD children grew, crawling became faster, with some reducing speed as they began to walk. Crawling width became narrower, and the percent of each cycle with all four limbs on the ground was significantly reduced. Children in the LL cohort were older than in the TD cohort. They crawled slower, showed significantly narrower stride width, and bore more weight on arms.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Study outcomes showed demonstrable changes during neuromotor development. Several measures, including speed, width, and percent quadruple limb support, were sensitive to differences in a typical and atypical population. These data fill the gap cited by the CDC and may be useful reestablishing crawling as a development milestone. In addition, understanding of the biomechanics of typical crawling development could enable early detection of some atypical development patterns such as those found in cerebral palsy, which is often not detected until children have progressed to walking.
REFERENCES
[1] Zubler, J.M. et al. Pediatrics. 149(3), 1-29, 2022.
[2] Kretch, K.S. et al. Ped Phys Therap. 34(4), 440-448, 2022.
Funded by a grant from the Gerber Foundation.