اثر تمرین جسمانی بر تعادل ایستا در افراد جوان با معلولیت ذهنی

Intellectual disability affects all spheres of people's lives who suffer from it. It lowers the level of intellectual functioning, often stigmatizes, characteristically changing features, and decreases motor performance. Unfortunately, modern medicine cannot cure intellectual disability; however, there is a chance to improve the quality of life of people with mental retardation by means of physical exercises and by enhancing coordination, the quality of gait and efficiency in performing everyday activities. This paper deals with observations of static balance in 40 young females and males with mild Down syndrome, out of which 20 were subjected to a three-month sensorimotor training programme. The participants performed exercises with rehabilitation balls and air pillows twice a week, and the remaining persons constituted a control group. The balance platform test conducted at the beginning of the experiment revealed that the level of static one-legged balance was similar in both groups. A significant difference was noted in the length of the path of the general centre of gravity (COG) and the time frame in which the vertical projection of COG remained within the 13 mm radius circle, between the result of the test conducted under visual control and with the eyes closed, both in the group of the participants performing exercises and the ones who did not do them. After the training sessions the results of both tests improved in the group of the persons subjected to the training programme, however differences between the groups were not statistically significant, apart from the comparison of the time of keeping COG within the 13 mm radius circle at the beginning and at the end of the experiment by the participants who were physically active. Our results lead to a conclusion that exercises with the use of unstable surfaces improve deep sensibility in people with mild mental retardation.

Intellectual disability is a complex dysfunction difficult to define accurately; it considerably hinders the functioning of people suffering from it in all spheres of their lives, affects their mental sphere and behaviour, disturbing both self-perception and inter-personal relations, which to a considerable degree decreases the quality of coexistence in society. Mental retardation negatively affects the life of a disabled person also by lowering their motor development, which is manifested by poor visual and motor coordination, limited precision of movements, inhibition and difficulties in learning new forms of activities. Persons with intellectual disability are worse at performing motor tasks which require combination of two activities (tossing and catching a ball, performing run-up jumps, tossing a ball up in the air after a leap), they also often have difficulties in developing praxis skills. Additionally disturbed body sensibility and poor spatial orientation considerably decrease the level of static and dynamic balances, which is manifested by awkward movements and increases the risk of falls. The above mentioned results in worsening the performance of everyday self-management activities and decreases chances to participate in the life of a group of healthy peers or a possibility to find at least simple gainful employment. All these factors often make persons with intellectual disability alienated from society and experience lack of acceptance, which further decreases their self-assessment and motivation.

People with Down syndrome strongly rely on their sense of sight to stabilize their bodies in space. In this study we found that systematic sensorimotor gymnastics favours improvement of static balance in people with mild retardation. Exercises on unstable surfaces improved deep sensibility of young people with intellectual disability which was expressed by a better performance in the test on a balance platform in a trial with the eyes closed. Thus, we suggest that sensorimotor exercises should supplement a rehabilitation programme of persons with dysfunctions in intellectual development which in turn would lead to improve their general fitness and the quality of their lives.