Revealed, why teenage boys are so gawky

TEENAGE boys really are as physically awkward as they appear, scientists have found.

Sudden growth spurts leave them uncoordinated because their brains have not had time to adjust to their rapid increase in height, a study revealed.

Researchers from Bologna University in Italy studied a group of 88 15-year-old boys, using sensors on their lower back and legs to analyse aspects of their walk which are guided by motor control, including the smoothness of their gait and balance.

Boys who had experienced growth spurts – defined as growing by more than an inch in three months – showed a more irregular and less smooth gait than those who were growing steadily.

The researchers said that accelerated changes in growth can alter an individual’s motor control over their body, the automated process by which the brain co-ordinates the muscles and limbs. This was because the brain needs time to adapt to the new body size.

But the body was still able to keep its balance despite the changes to walking style, they said.

The study’s authors said: ‘ A sudden increase in height affects the body’s ability to control established motor skills, such as walking. But teenagers who grow steadily are able to handle growth modifications better and so maintain smoothness and regularity when walking.’

The boys in the study, published in Biomedical Engineering OnLine, were measured and weighed twice, three months apart, to see which had grown by more than an inch.

They were asked to walk up and down a 30ft-long corridor four times while wearing the sensors. They then repeated the exercise while counting backwards aloud in eights from a random starting number to test the extent to which controlling their gait put a demand on their brain.