Short report on a 6-week at-home exergaming intervention to improve balance in children with developmental coordination disorder

Previous studies have evidenced balance training for improving postural control in children with DCD, however none have examined how neuromuscular mechanisms controlling balance might be improved with training. To assess the neuromuscular control of balance before and after training in children with DCD. Eleven children with DCD completed a six-week, game-based intervention to train balance, and lower-limb and core strength. Six children with DCD formed the control group. Stepping behaviour, centre of mass variability, centre of pressure area, and postural muscle onset latencies, using a continuous oscillating platform paradigm, were assessed at baseline, immediately-post and six-week-post intervention. Both groups showed improvement in the oscillating platform task, indicating a learning effect. However, only the training group showed improvements in MABC-2 balance percentile scores from baseline (p = 0.008). These findings suggest that children with DCD can learn through repeated exposure to challenging situations, regardless whether training is given. However, only the training group were able to transfer these improvements to the MABC-2 balance assessment. This may suggest the intervention exposed children to increased movement variations which could be transferred to a different task. •Training and control groups showed improvement in balance on our oscillating platform task after an exergaming intervention.•Children with DCD can learn following short exposure to challenging tasks.•Only the training group showed improvements in movement assessment battery for children balance percentile scores.•Training group children may have been exposed to more movement variations, aiding transfer of improvements to other tasks.•Balance training may lead to altered neuromuscular control in children with DCD, but further work is required to confirm.