Balance Findings in a Child before and after a Mild Head Injury

OBJECTIVE: This case study reviews the preinjury and postinjury balance performance of an 11-year-old child who sustained a mild head injury. DESIGN: A prospective design was used to document balance 5 days before injury and 1, 4, and 12 weeks after injury. OUTCOME MEASURES: The assessments used were the balance subtest of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, the Pediatric Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction for Balance, and the Postural Stress Test. RESULTS: One week after the trauma, balance deficits were observed in the three tests. The deficits improved 4 weeks after the injury, and performance remained stable over the following 2 months for two of the evaluations except for the Postural Stress Test performance, which failed to improve in the 3-month period after trauma. CONCLUSIONS: The good recovery of balance skills observed over the first month after injury seems to validate the current activity restrictions imposed on children after a mild head injury. However, the persistence of poor performance in the area of reactions to external perturbations indicates that some deficits may persist beyond what is expected with this population.