Controlled exertion of force by developmentally delayed young men and women

Present purposes were to examine the characteristics of controlled force exertion in 28 developmentally delayed young people (14 men, 14 women), and sex differences compared to 28 normal young students (14 men, 14 women). The subjects matched their submaximal grip strength to changing demand values displayed in a bar chart on the display of a personal computer. The total sum of the differences between the demand value and grip exertion value for 25 sec. was used as an evaluation parameter for the test. The controlled force exertion was significantly poorer for he developmentally delayed group than for controls, and there were large individual differences. The developmentally delayed men scored poorer than women in coordination. Like the controls, the means between trials did not decrease significantly. For these developmentally delayed subjects, performance did not improve after only a few trials. The controlled force-exertion test is useful as a voluntary movement-function test for developmentally delayed subjects.