Movement System and Functional Mobility Across the Lifespan
Core concepts
This domain emphasizes the movement system as the organizing framework: posture, balance, gait, and transfer across development and aging. Know normal motor development milestones, primitive and postural reflex integration, and how to distinguish delayed from atypical development. Understand gait across the lifespan (toddler to older adult), age-related changes (sarcopenia, decreased reaction time, sensory decline, vestibular changes), and fall risk. Recognize pediatric conditions (cerebral palsy, developmental coordination disorder, spina bifida) and geriatric syndromes (frailty, polypharmacy, cognitive impairment). Understand dual-task cost and its role in fall risk.
Traps
Questions test whether you can separate normal variation from pathology (e.g., toe-walking in a young child vs spasticity). Watch for over-attributing decline to aging when a treatable cause exists. Do not apply adult norms to children. Remember that gait speed and dual-task performance are strong fall-risk indicators.
Rule of thumb
Interpret movement in context: age, development, environment, and task. A change in function should prompt a search for cause rather than acceptance of decline.
Worked example
An older adult with new unsteadiness and falls: screen for medication effects, sensory loss, vestibular dysfunction, and strength deficits rather than assuming normal aging; dual-task testing may reveal a cognitive-motor interference pattern that guides intervention.