THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOINT HYPERMOBILITY AND NEURODEVELOPMENTAL ATTRIBUTES IN ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL-CHILDREN

Joint hypermobility is associated with motor developmental delay in infancy. To assess this finding in school-aged children, 320 first- and second-grade elementary school children and 110 children attending a special education program were assessed. Joint hypermobility was found in 40 (12.4%) and seven (6.4%) of the children attending the regular and special education classes, respectively. No difference in the neurologic status or verbal and eye-hand coordination task performance was found between the children of the study group and their age- and sex-matched controls. It appears that joint hypermobility and neurodevelopmental dysfunctions are not causally related and have a different maturational course.