Effects of Basic Body Awareness Therapy on movement quality in autistic young adults: a superiority pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

This was a randomised controlled trial — people were assigned to treatments by chance, which is the most reliable way to tell whether a treatment itself caused a change.

The number of people who took part is not stated in this record, so the result cannot be judged on size.

The researchers concluded: "BBAT and TAU were superior to TAU alone for improving movement quality. BBAT is a relevant intervention for autistic young adults to improve everyday functionality."

This record does not state:

• how long the study ran

This is a plain-language summary of one paper's abstract, not medical advice. Talk to your child's clinician before changing anything.

Journal: Journal of bodywork and movement therapies

Year: 2026

Design: Randomized Controlled Trial

Age range: 15-30 years

Intervention: interventions targeting these aspects in autistic persons

Authors: Ingrid Bertilsson, Christina Brogårdh, Arve Opheim, Amanda L Gyllensten, Jeanette Melin, Catharina Sjödahl Hammarlund

INTRODUCTION: Autistic persons experience problems with movements and body awareness in everyday functionality, expressed in affected movement quality. Yet, there is a knowledge gap about the effects of interventions targeting these aspects in autistic persons. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate effects of Basic Body Awareness Therapy (BBAT) and treatment-as-usual (TAU), compared to TAU alone on movement quality in autistic persons. METHODS: In this pragmatic RCT, autistic persons with no intellectual disorder, 15-30 years old and in contact with habilitation services, were randomized to an intervention group (IG) (n = 28, 22 females) or a control group (CG) (n = 29, 21 females). The IG received 12 sessions of individual BBAT and TAU, the CG received TAU. Primary outcome was a person-reported measure of an individualized movement quality problem, using a numeric rating scale (NRS). Secondary outcome was Body Awareness Scale Movement Quality (BAS MQ), i.e., scored physiotherapist observations. Between- and within-group analyses, and individual one-sided t-tests were performed. RESULTS: Comparing the between-group changes in NRS and BAS MQ after 12 weeks, the differences were statistically significant in favor of the IG (p < 0.001). Within-group analyses: the IG had statistically significant improvements on both outcomes (p < 0.001), the CG had not. Individually in the IG, 54 % of the participants improved significantly in NRS and 41 % in BAS MQ. In the CG, the corresponding numbers were 10 % and 7 %, respectively. CONCLUSION: BBAT and TAU were superior to TAU alone for improving movement quality. BBAT is a relevant intervention for autistic young adults to improve everyday functionality. REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials NCT0323876.

Journal of bodywork and movement therapies, 2026

PMID 41927180

DOI 10.1016/j.jbmt.2025.11.014

This record was extracted from the paper's PubMed abstract and metadata. Full-text methods and risk-of-bias details were not reviewed.