Short report presenting preliminary evidence of impaired corticomuscular coherence in an individual with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Parr, JVV, Hodson-Tole, E and Wood, G ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0851-7090 (2022) Short report presenting preliminary evidence of impaired corticomuscular coherence in an individual with Developmental Coordination Disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 131. p. 104355. ISSN 0891-4222

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Abstract

Background It has been suggested that developmental coordination disorder (DCD) could be caused by a ‘dysconnection’ in brain and skeletal muscle communication. To date no previous work has examined the integrity of this neuromuscular process in individuals with DCD. Aims To conduct a feasibility study for measuring functional connectivity of the brain and muscle in an individual with DCD using corticomuscular coherence (CMC). Methods and Procedures An individual with DCD and a typically developing (TD) participant completed a series of sustained 5-second voluntary isometric hand contractions (15 ± 5 % MVC) on a handheld dynamometer under both single and dual task (i.e., counting backwards) conditions. EEG, EMG and force data were collected. Outcomes and Results The participant with DCD displayed poorer force steadiness and higher mental demand compared to the TD participant and in dual task conditions. The TD participant displayed a commonly observed pattern of CMC that was highly localised over the contralateral hand area, the DCD participant displayed a less localised CMC across cortical regions. Conclusions and Implications These findings support the feasibility of measuring CMC in DCD populations and offer some, albeit preliminary, evidence of impaired communication between the brain and muscles in these individuals.