Children movement competence: Quantitative assessment through an instrumented version of the TGMD-2

Introduction: Movement competence is defined as the development of sufficient skill and ability to assure successful performance in a variety of physical activities. Minor motor delays and/or low movement competence in childhood lead to low participation in physical activity, with consequent increased risk of obesity, cardiorespiratory and mental health outcomes [1]. Despite a high global attention on this topic, an overall decline in children’s skill performance has been observed [2]. Clearly, there is need of effective interventions in order to improve these competencies in the young. To make this possible, it is necessary to have quantitative, interpretative and widely usable screening methods for identifying low movement competence in specific children. Despite the number of proposed batteries for movement assessment, no gold standard has been identified for testing. Moreover, when aiming at interpreting results evaluating movement strategies (e.g. using the test of gross motor development, TGMD-2 [3]), results are often operator dependent and test administration and evaluation are time-consuming, limiting a wide use of movement competence assessment. The present work aims at overcoming these limitations with the use of inertial sensors to quantify objectively children’ movement competence in children. The aim of this work was to design and validate an instrumented version of the locomotor subtest of TGMD-2 in order to provide new quantitative tools for movement competence assessment based on wearable technologies.