Developmental Reorganization of Whole-Body Muscle Synergies During Overarm Throwing in Children

Abstract

Overarm throwing is a uniquely human skill that requires precise whole-body coordination. Although throwing behavior emerges early in childhood, the neuromuscular mechanisms that support its development remain poorly characterized. Here, we provide novel evidence for the developmental reorganization of whole-body muscle synergies during maximum-effort throwing in preschool-aged (PS) and school-aged (SA) children. Electromyography was recorded from 16 muscles, and non-negative matrix factorization was applied to extract low-dimensional coordination modules (muscle synergies). We compared ball speed, number of synergies, synergy structure, and temporal consistency between groups. Ball speed was significantly higher in SA than PS (33.6 {+/-} 10.2 vs. 21.4 {+/-} 6.2 km/h, p < 0.05), reflecting improved performance. Yet, the number of synergies did not differ (PS: 6.0 {+/-} 1.1; SA: 6.4 {+/-} 1.3, p > 0.05), suggesting that the dimensionality of coordination is largely established by the preschool years. Instead, developmental improvements were driven by structural and temporal reorganization: trunk- and upper-limb synergies merged into a single module in SA, reflecting improved postural integration, while a bilateral soleus-dominant synergy fractionated into lateralized modules, reflecting increased lower-limb specialization. Moreover, the temporal variability of synergy activation was reduced in SA (p < 0.01), indicating that movement sequences became more precise and stable with development. These findings reveal that early gains in throwing arise not from expanding synergy number but from reorganizing their structure and sharpening temporal coordination, offering mechanistic insight into how complex whole-body skills are refined during childhood. Significance StatementThrowing is a hallmark of human motor behavior, requiring precise sequencing of whole-body muscle activity. Yet how children develop this ability has remained unclear. By applying muscle synergy analysis to electromyographic recordings of preschool and school-aged children performing maximum-effort throws, we found that improvements in performance were not due to an increase in synergy number but rather to structural reorganization and greater temporal precision. Specifically, trunk and upper-limb modules merged, lower-limb modules fractionated, and activation timing became more consistent. These results identify merging and fractionation as complementary mechanisms supporting developmental refinement of motor skills. More broadly, they provide a mechanistic framework for understanding how complex whole-body actions are acquired and offer markers for pediatric training and rehabilitation strategies.