David Ramalheira Catela

Polytechnic Institute of Santarém · Movement Sciences

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is the change in time intervals between heart beats, reflecting the autonomic nervous system’s ability to adapt to psychological and physiological demands. Slow breathing enhances parasympathetic activity, increasing HRV. Pranayama, a yoga breathing technique, affords the conscious regulation of respiration...

A educação STEAM (Ciência, Tecnologia, Engenharia, Artes/Humanidades e Matemática), aliada ao ambiente outdoor, poderá promover o desenvolvimento integral e harmonioso das crianças e jovens, uma vez que se perspetivam aprendizagens significativas e o incentivo à adoção de estilos de vida saudáveis. O presente estudo tem como principais objetivos av...

A educação STEAM (Ciência, Tecnologia, Engenharia, Artes/Humanidades e Matemática), aliada ao ambiente outdoor, poderá promover o desenvolvimento integral e harmonioso das crianças e jovens, uma vez que se perspetivam aprendizagens significativas e o incentivo à adoção de estilos de vida saudáveis. O presente estudo tem como principais objetivos av...

There is a consensus that students should be involved in interdisciplinary activities that promote a solid education in STEAM subjects from an early age. The outdoor settings of schools present an advantageous context for STEAM education, allowing for a myriad of learning experiences. To understand how teachers perceive the pedagogical use of the s...

Introduction: The feint is one of the technical identity elements of football, which can be acquired and trained through specific programs. This study includes basic, roulette and scissors as the main feints used and relevant in youth football training. Basic Feint is express by a simulation with leaning the body to one side and then a rapid change...

Small-sided games (SSG) have gained widespread popularity in football over the past decade, providing a platform for sports sciences research to investigate how varying rules impact players' performance from short to long-term perspectives. While this research has contributed to tailoring effective training environments, players from different age...

Introduction: Feet and head juggling are identitary and basic skills for soccer and teqball. Exploring them since early ages may afford enhanced motor competence in such specific abilities. Our studies have revealed that the balloon be an excellent tool for that purpose, eliminating the harmful effect of impact and providing time for a more adjuste...

Physical inactivity and obesity in children are public health problems that can be fought through the practice of rhythmic activities such as hip hop. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Crescer+ hip hop physical exercise programme, designed to promote increased physical activity and improved physical-motor skills in children aged...

Background: Fine and gross motor tasks are usually used to evaluate behavioral dysfunctions and can be applied to diseases of the central nervous system, such as fibromyalgia (FM). Non-linear measures have allowed for deeper motor control analysis, focusing on the process and on the quality of movement. Therefore, to assess uncertainty, irregularit...

Fibromyalgia (FM) is normally defined as a widespread pain syndrome or disease that presents disturbances in gross and fine motor control. As a gross motor control skill, gait requires coordination, balance, and muscle strength, and it could be an essential factor for FM patients to perform daily activities. Measuring the spatial and temporal gait...

The International Surfing Association (ISA) defines surfing as all wave riding activities on any type of waves and all flat water activities using wave riding equipment. As there are several wave riding sports, this work addresses the teaching methodology of those sports in which we paddle and move in the sea lying down on our surfboard and surf th...

Introdução: A incidência e gravidade das lesões na cabeça no futebol infantil pode ser reduzido diminuindo a massa da bola. O cabeceamento é uma habilidade motora identitária e importante no Futebol. Precisamos de conciliar a segurança de um corpo ainda em formação com a necessidade de propiciar a aquisição desta habilidade. Considerando o modelo d...

Background Cycling is a foundational movement skill which represents an important motor milestone to achieve in children’s lives. The use of a bicycle with training wheels is the most common approach for learning how to cycle, although some evidence suggests that this approach is counterproductive. Purpose Underpinned by an ecological dynamics and...

The Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affects about 5 to 6% of school-aged children, being one of the most common developmental problems in childhood. A dated review identified that DCD children had lower levels of physical activity than their peers however, they did not investigate the implications of this lower activity in the children's...

The balance bike (BB) has been pointed out as being the most efficient learning bicycle due to its inherent stimulation of balance. However, the process of acquiring the control of balance on the BB has not been explored. This study aimed to: (i) categorize the cycle patterns of children on the BB, (ii) compare the cycle patterns in different stage...

O Transtorno do Desenvolvimento da Coordenação (TDC) acomete cerca de 5 a 6% das crianças em idade escolar, sendo um dos problemas de desenvolvimento mais comuns na infância. Uma revisão datada identificou que crianças com TDC apresentavam níveis mais baixos de atividade física do que seus pares, porém, não investigaram as implicações dessa menor a...

Portuguese children spend about eight hours/day in sedentary behaviours, presenting only one hour in active play. This inactivity rate is about 84%. The lower levels of physical activity (PA) trigger several health problems in children and, after, in adulthood. With the appearance of the pandemic of COVID-19 and, consequently, increase of confined...

Background Learning to cycle is an important milestone for children, but the popularity of cycling and the environmental factors that promote the development and practice of this foundational movement skill vary among cultures and across time. This present study aimed to investigate if country of residence and the generation in which a person was b...

Background: Learning to cycle is an important milestone in a child's life, so it is important to allow them to explore cycling as soon as possible. The use of a bicycle with training wheels (BTW) for learning to cycling is an old approach practiced worldwide. Most recently, a new approach using the balance bike (BB) has received increased attentio...

Systematic sport practice at younger ages positively influences body composition and maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max). On the other hand, its influence on maturation is still not consensual, and some studies claim a negative effect. Few studies have approached the differences in this influence according to different sport practices. The present study...

Background: The bicycle is a popular means of transportation, exercise, recreation and also socializing for children worldwide, allowing them several physical and psychological benefits. Several methodologies and types of bicycles have been used for learning how to cycle, however, the best approach is still unclear. Purpose: The purpose of this stu...

In this paper, we show an analyze the relationship between tactile perception, simulation of instrument use and word in children aged from 2 to 5 years. The child was shown 11 instruments from her/his daily live, asked (i) what they were (word), (ii) to pretend to use them (gesture), and (iii) to identify them tactically. The 2-year-old children ha...

The present study aimed to analyze the diversity of modes of movement on the ground (commonly named as crawling) in early childhood and interaction with context constraints, through a closed pictorial questionnaire for mothers and fathers (N = 52). Twenty different modes of travel on the ground were identified, with an average of 3.04 (±3.33) per c...

We intend to analyze the relationship between motor development and playing dimensions in young children, using a closed questionnaire on early childhood motor milestones, playing pattern, motor coordination, and socioeconomic status, completed by mothers/fathers, between March and April 2021, of 28 children (3.89±.88 years old, 14 girls). Three ch...

The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of the physical properties of the object on the self�heading ability, in beginners and non-practitioners, aged 4, 5 and 6 years, of both genders. Compared to a foam ball, the balloon, light and slow, provided successive headings, even for non-practitioners, with no difference between genders. From 4...

The aim of this study is to analyze the attitudes of children and mothers towards play behaviors, activities and environments. Were obtained 43 responses mother and her child (± 8.74, 62, 27 girls) to individual questionnaires (1,2) during May 2021. The results revealed two distinct attitudes of mothers, the more cautious, supervisory and mentor...

The objective of the study is to collect and analyze pattern of activities implemented by educators during dead times, i.e., moments of transition in the foreseen activities. Thirteen respondents (age: 39.56±8.37 years, experience: 15.22±8.30 years) were validated using a semi-open structured questionnaire, published online. In dead time activiti...

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) refers to a range of neurodevelopmental disorders with deficits in postural control (PC), motor development and coordination. The PC deficit appears to be persistent across the spectrum and can limit the acquisition of new motor skills with severe consequences in life's' quality. Objectives: i) to verif...

The present article aimed to verify whether the age at which children learn to ride a bicycle is related to their physical activity or birth order. Data were collected from an online structured survey between November 2019 and June 2020. A total of 8614 responses were obtained from 22 countries. The results reveal significant differences in learnin...

Learning to ride a bicycle is an important milestone in children’s life, so it is important to allow them to explore cycling as soon as possible. The use of a bicycle with training wheels (BTW) for learning to cycling independently is an old approach practiced worldwide. Most recently, a new approach using the balance bike (BB) has increased, and s...

Slow breathing can be used as a complement for hypertension treatment. The aim of the study was to verify the effect of a breathing technique on cardiac autonomic function in elderly (N = 22, 76.36 ± 7.93 years old, 13 women); thirteen had optimal to Normal High Blood Pressure (ONH group) and nine had Mild to Moderate Isolated Systolic Pressure (MM...

In acrobatic gymnastics there are specific morphological functional differences between bases (B) and tops (T). Previous studies show that T are significantly less tall, lighter and with less fat mass; and, that the competitive level influences these differences. In this study, weight, height, experience and competitive level was collected, and wei...

The waist-to-hip ratio (RCA) is a measure of attractiveness. With this study we intend to explore in children the influence of geographic origin on their perception of attractiveness. Aged between 7 and 15 years old, they observed 7 silhouettes manipulated in the width of the hip, pointing to which they considered the most beautiful, for their gend...

During the process of appropriating the spoon, children need to detect and acquire a series of functional motor skills, as well as certain social norms associated with the use of this tool. With this descriptive study we intend to obtain information on the temporal sequencing of access to the spoon and other cutlery, and what explorations the child...

Difficulties in cursive writing are detectable due to spatial inconsistency and slowness. With an incidence of up to 30% in the 1st grade, they are associated with poor school performance. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of a perceptual-motor stimulation program on children with problems in learning cursive writing. The sample consis...

The judgment of the temporal order of two stimuli received in rapid succession, one for each prehensile member, is reversed when the members are crossed; however, when the stimulus is detected through the end of an implement, spatial compatibility is crucial for a lower frequency of error. We asked 46 children to hold a tennis racket in each hand a...

Babywalkers are wheeled seats for infants that support their weight and allow them to move around, pushing the floor with their feet or feet’s toes. The purpose of the present study was to verify if Portuguese infants that used babywalker gained or not temporal advantage compared to infants who did not use any instrument for learning to walk. Data...

At age 5, children with trisomy 21 have roughly 2 years of delayed motor development. We aimed to verify if children with trisomy 21 (AD) (N = 6, 7.67 ± 1.51 years) had a similar performance to children with a typical development (TD) (N = 37, 5.19 ± 0.40 years old), in a playful motor action (to spin on herself until she cannot get more). On avera...

AHEMD-SR (Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Self Report) was applied to children from 18 to 42 months (N = 132), from a coastal municipality of Portugal. The results revealed that the father’s income provides more conditions for motor development stimulation, and that a higher number of offspring may result in less condition...

The article presents the reference framework for multidisciplinary research at the Life Quality Research Centre (LQRC). The research paradigm about the citizens' quality of life in society imposes a multifaceted and complex analysis. At the LQRC we address this as thematically divided into six scientific areas: education and training; physical acti...

Infants haptically react to changes in object characteristics (Rochat, 1987; Streri, Lhote, & Dutilleul, 2000), being able to explore the space and be sensitive to different orientations of a rod by the hands (Gentaz & Streri 2002). One-year-old babies show haptic recognition memory after a short period of haptic familiarization, manipulating novel...

The developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a motor disorder without neural compromising that affects 5-6% of children in school-age (Zwicker, Missiuna, Har-ris, & Boyd, 2012). The study aims to identify and describe the prevalence of probable DCD in Rio Maior and São João da Ribeira in children with 3 and 4 years old. It was applied MABC-2 (H...

Children with trisomy 21 have roughly 2 years of delayed motor development. We aimed to verify if children with trisomy 21 (AD) (N = 6, 7.67 ± 1.51 years) had a similar performance to children with a typical development (TD) (N = 37, 5.19 ± 0.40 years old), in a playful motor action (to spin on herself until she cannot get more). On average, ADs ga...

The classical guitar has 6 strings, the first being the lower one, therefore without hindrance before for the trajectory of the middle and index fingers, but to strum the second string the child has as obstacles the 1st and 3rd strings. It was intended to analyze the recurrence of the exercises proposed by Topper for strings 1 and 2, without pressu...

In this study, through the Polar V800 RR interval (10 minutes) was collected in 23 children (9.30 ± 2.23 years old, 2 girls), during resting breathing (baseline-B) and slow breathing (A), the latter tried for 3-5 minutes before collection. HRV was estimated using the gHRV program. Informed consent and consent were obtained. In condition A, children...

Knot execution allows us to manipulate topological structures such as proximity, continuity, and boundary. The knot is also a cultural and identity object. In this study, children between 12 and 14 years old (N = 8, 13.0 ±, 926 years, 4 girls; 12 years n = 3, 13 years n = 2, 14 years n = 3) made the knots of eight, eight induced and double eight, i...

AHEMD – SR was applied to children from 18 to 42 months (N = 132), from Caldas da Rainha. The results revealed that the father's income provides more conditions for motor development stimulation, and that a higher number of offspring may result in less conditions for the younger ones. Having a mother, whatever her academic qualifications, is also a...

In the present study, children aged 5-6 years (N = 7, 5.29 ± 0.488 years, 3 girls) performed orientation activity in their classroom under two conditions: i) color photography; ii) color drawing - made by the child, from the same place from which the photograph was taken. The total time in seconds is a dependent variable. In the color photography c...

The manipulation of objects allows the child to detect and distinguish their properties, providing them with the formation of the concept of a given object, necessary for the use of the associated word. The iconic gesture, i.e. a stylized motor action that conveys actions and attributes associated with objects, allows the child to practice meanings...

A sincronização involuntária dos movimentos emerge de forma espontânea, sendo o indivíduo atraído para o ritmo dos movimentos de outro (1). A sincronização pode ser estabelecida através de dois padrões estáveis, em fase, na qual ambos os indivíduos realizam o mesmo movimento em simultâneo e na mesma direção; e em anti-fase, na qual o movimento é re...

Aprender a andar de bicicleta é um marco importante na vida de uma criança devido aos seus vários benefícios. A bicicleta pode ser um instrumento complexo, para andar nela a criança deve em simultâneo controlar os graus de liberdade do volante e pedaleira, pedalar e manter o equilíbrio. Recentemente, as bicicletas sem pedais começaram a ser usadas...

div> The number of children practicing karate is constantly increasing. It is necessary to provide correct information to the karate masters/coaches about this specific population, so they can properly develop karate training processes without causing any harm to practitioners but, on the contrary, contribute to the harmonious development of childr...

Babies react to changes in the characteristics of objects, presenting haptic recognition after a period of familiarization. We aimed to verify if infants responded to the different spatial orientations of an ergonomic pacifier in the mouth. With informed consent, 10 babies (271.6 ± 60.8 days), users of ergonomic pacifiers, revealed motor behaviors...

The haptic perception affords detection of the physical and functional properties of an instrument actively sustained. Fifty-seven children (8.82 ± 0.38 years old) and 64 elderlies (71.3 ± 4.46 years old) estimated the length and the distance of the center of percussion for two table tennis rackets and a badminton racket. The eigenvalues of each ra...

Babies react to changes in the characteristics of objects, presenting haptic recognition after a period of familiarization. We aimed to verify if infants responded to the different spatial orientations of an ergonomic pacifier in the mouth. With informed consent, 10 babies (271.6 ± 60.8 days), users of ergonomic pacifiers, revealed motor behaviors...

Introduction: Motor literacy is the acquired repertoire of movement techniques, like breathing techniques, which are assumed to be a complementary non-clinical instrument for health, e.g., slowing breathing frequency enhances respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Objective: To verify the effect of learned diaphragmatic breathing on cardiac autonomic functi...

Falls are a major source of morbidity and mortality among elderly [1]. Duncan, Weiner, Chandler, and Studenski [2] developed a test based on the ability to reach ahead as far as possible, in static bipedal posture. A functional reach less than 17.78 cm is considered a valid marker of physical frailty [3], and, over 70 years of age a reach less than...

BACKGROUND: Lower breathing frequencies are associated to larger respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)

p>Capoeira is a simulated duel supported by the rhythmic of instrumentalists, with traditional musical instruments; evolving a constant synchrony with the other capoeirista . Nowadays, capoeira is passed on by traditional processes, according to the past experience and personal interpretations of the Mestre de capoeira (capoeira master/coach). The...

Paring children improve the chance for success and reduce injury in sport. Despite the maturity differences between children, chronological age remains the main criterion to equalize competition levels, but with limited efficiency. However, in Karate, weight is also considered. We went to investigate the association between chronological age and ma...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comprises a persistent pattern of symptoms hyperactivity, impulsiveness and/or lack of attention (APA, 2013), and can cause a significant impairment in academic activities (Cantwell & Baker, 1991). ADHD has a prevalence rate ranging from 3% to 7% among school age children (Rash & Aguirre-Camacho, 2012...

The use that we make of the visual information is processed in two streams, the ventral one provides visual information for perception, the dorsal one provides information for the control of action (Goodale & Milner 1992; Milner & Goodale 1995, 2008). Similarly, Jeannerod (1994) proposed a “semantic mode” of stimulus processing at the ventral strea...

From 4 to 8 months, infants use both hands to reach the object in their midline, and ipsilateral hand when the object is located peripherally, revealing non-linearity in the pattern of behavior (Martins, Barreiros & Catela, 2012; cf. Rostoft et al., 2002). Above 3 years there is still influence in the most extreme locations (Carlier et al., 2006)....

Speed of handwriting is significantly slower for children with special education (Jongmans et al., 2003). A child with ADHD (male, 7 years old) movement comorbilities (stereotyped involuntary movements, priapism, delayed motor development), medication, and special education support, was paired with two children with typical development (males, 6 yea...

Waist-hip ratio (WHR) is a measure of attractiveness (Singh, 1993). 6 years old children select underweight figures as the nicest/most attractive; and, with age a progressive differentiation of WHR per gender occurs (Connolly, Slaughter & Mealey, 2004; Brown & Slaughter, 2011). Fifty children (8,48±0,71 years old, 29 girls, from public schools; 25...

Orienteering is the capacity to be able to locate ourselves in a space and to move to a desired location, using autonomously a map (Barroso, Bento, & Catela 2014; Heft, 2013; Jansen-Osmann & Wiedenbauer, 2004). From the age of 3 years, children can orient themselves in unknown large spaces, looking for hidden objects trough an aerial photography of...

Emparelhar crianças propicia sucesso e reduz lesões no desporto. Apesar das diferenças de maturação entre crianças, a idade cronológica mantém-se o principal critério para equalizar os níveis de competição, mas com uma eficiência limitada. No entanto, no Karaté, o peso também é considerado. Fomos verificar se existe associação entre a idade cronoló...

The purpose of the present study was to verify the incidence of probable developmental coordination disorder (p-DCD) in a pre-school in Cartaxo. For that it was applied MABC-2 battery test (3), Portuguese version. The sample was composed by children with 3 to 5 years old (N=40, 4,25±0,53 years, 22 boys). Three children were identified with probable...

A Perturbação de Hiperatividade e Défice de Atenção (PHDA) está associada a menor arritmia sinusal respiratória, a maior frequência cardíaca, e a menor variabilidade da frequência cardíaca (VFC). O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar se, por meio do controlo da respiração, um aluno com 8 anos com PHDA conseguiria aumentar a sua variabilidade da fre...

Babies react to changes in the characteristics of objects (Rochat, 1987; Streri, Lhote & Dutilleul, 2000), presenting haptic recognition after a period of familiarization (Gottfried & Rose, 1980). We aimed to verify if infants responded to the different spatial orientations of an ergonomic pacifier in the mouth. With informed consent, 10 babies (27...

Speed of handwriting is significantly slower for children with special education. A child with ADHD (male, 9 years old) movement comorbilities (stereotyped involuntary movements, priapism, delayed motor development), medication, and special education support, was paired with two children with typical development (males, 7 years old), from the same c...

Orienteering is the capacity to be able to locate ourselves in a space and to move to a desired location, using autonomously a map (Barroso, Bento, & Catela 2014; Heft, 2013; Jansen-Osmann & Wiedenbauer, 2004). From the age of 3 years, children can orient themselves in unknown large spaces, looking for hidden objects trough an aerial photography of...