Relationship between habitual physical activity and gross motor skills is multifaceted in 5‐ to 8‐year‐old children

TLDR

Gross motor skills are essential for children’s participation in age‑appropriate physical activities and for sustaining physical activity levels throughout life. The study aimed to investigate how gross motor skills relate to physical activity when activity is measured by both metabolic and neuromuscular methods. Researchers assessed gross motor skills in 84 children aged 5–8 using the KTK and APM tests and quantified physical activity with accelerometers, applying both metabolic counts and neuromuscular impact analyses. Results showed that in primary‑school girls, gross motor skills correlated with moderate‑to‑high neuromuscular impacts, vigorous‑intensity metabolic activity, and overall activity levels (r 0.5–0.7), while in preschool girls the correlations were moderate (r 0.3–0.5); in preschool boys, gross motor skills were linked to moderate impacts, light‑to‑vigorous activity, and mean activity (r 0.4–0.7), highlighting a strong relationship between motor proficiency and both metabolic and neuromuscular aspects of physical activity, especially in girls.

Abstract

Adequate motor skills are essential for children participating in age‐related physical activities, and gross motor skills may play an important role for maintaining sufficient level of physical activity ( PA ) during life course. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between gross motor skills and PA in children when PA was analyzed by both metabolic‐ and neuromuscular‐based methods. Gross motor skills ( KTK – K örperkoordinationstest für K inder and APM inventory – manipulative skill test) of 84 children aged 5–8 years (53 preschoolers, 28 girls; 31 primary schoolers, 18 girls) were measured, and accelerometer‐derived PA was analyzed using in parallel metabolic counts and neuromuscular impact methods. The gross motor skills were associated with moderate‐to‐high neuromuscular impacts, PA of vigorous metabolic intensity, and mean level of PA in primary school girls (0.5 < r < 0.7, P < 0.05), and with high impacts in preschool girls (0.3 < r < 0.5, P < 0.05). In preschool boys, moderate impacts, light‐to‐vigorous PA , and mean level of PA were associated with gross motor skills (0.4 < r < 0.7, P < 0.05). In conclusion, the result emphasizes an important relationship between gross motor skills and PA stressing both metabolic and neuromuscular systems in children. Furthermore, PA highly stressing neuromuscular system interacts with gross motor proficiency in girls especially.