123 Motor Control, 2013, 17, 123-144 © 2013 Human Kinetics, Inc. Official Journal of ISMC www.MC-Journal.com ORIGINAL RESEARCH Motor Control, 2013, 17, 123-144 © 2013 Human Kinetics, Inc. The authors are with the Department of Physiotherapy, Neuropediatrics Section, Federal University of São Carlos, 13565-905, São Paulo, Brazil. Effect of Training at Different Body Positions on Proximal and Distal Reaching Adjustments at the Onset of Goal-Directed Reaching: a Controlled Clinical Trial Andréa Baraldi Cunha, Daniele A. Soares, Alyne Montero Ferro, and Eloisa Tudella The objectives of this study were to verify the influence of a short-duration training session on proximal and distal adjustments at the onset of goal-directed reaching and to verify whether these adjustments change in specificity with the body posi- tion trained. Twenty-four infants aged 3–4 months were assessed in supine and reclined during pre and posttraining conditions. During the interval (4 min), 8 infants received reaching training in supine, 8 infants received reaching training in reclined, and 8 infants received no training. The frequencies of reaches, unimanual reaches and reaches with semiopen and oblique hand increased in the posttraining condition for all infants except control infants. Infants trained in the reclined posi- tion increased the frequencies of variables in the reclined position. Infants trained in the supine position increased the frequencies of variables in both positions. Few minutes of reaching training are effective to facilitate reaching behavior in infants at the onset of reaching. The effects are specific to the body position trained. As the training in supine requires higher torque to initiate reaching movements, it is more effective to facilitate reaches in both supine and reclined positions. Keywords: training; physical therapy; motor skills; infant development When manual reaching is acquired at around 3–5 months of age (Thelen et al., 1993), infants are able to expand their ability to explore the environment. Soon, they learn to modify the dynamics of the upper limb to facilitate the approach of their hand to an object at the midline (Bhat, Lee, & Galloway, 2007) and adjust the proximal (uni- and bimanual) and distal movements (hand orientation and opening) of the limb to touch and grasp objects more successfully (Fagard, 2000; Toledo, Soares, & Tudella, 2011). Proximal adjustments in early reaches predominantly result from shoulder movements and are typically bimanual (Fagard, 2000), although head and trunk support may favor unimanual movements (Carvalho, Gonçalves, & Tudella, 2008a; Toledo et al., 2011). Distal adjustments are initially performed with the hand hori-