A review on the effect of balance exercises on postural control and muscle tension of children with autism spectrum disorder: the role of sensory-physical information

Maintaining control of the body's vertical posture is a complex task that requires the integration of visual, vestibular, and sensory-physical inputs of the whole body to evaluate the body's position in space and generate force for posture control. Posture control plays an important role in carrying out daily activities and movement independence of people, therefore identifying the factors affecting it is of great importance. Among these factors, we can mention balance exercises that can improve posture control. Since children with autism disorder due to developmental delay disorder or problems in the structure of the central nervous system as well as clinical characteristics have more disorders in corrective commands, as a result, they have more postural fluctuations than healthy children and are hardly able to maintain static balance. And they have more instability of position in comparison with the group of healthy children. Studies have shown that balance exercises improve the posture control of autistic children and it seems that the effect of balance exercises is applied through improving the conditions of the center of pressure (anterior-posterior axis, central-lateral axis and speed). The present study examines and presents a summary of the studies conducted in the field of the effects of balance training on the posture control of these children and the role of sensory-physical information in improving the balance status of the autism spectrum.