Leg Movement Training In Preterm Infants Demonstrates Positive Changes In Motor

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Leg Movement Training In Preterm Infants Demonstrates Positive Changes In Motor

Skills

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001101326.htm

Preterm infants who receive leg movement training display feet-reaching

behaviors similar to that of full-term infants, according to a randomized

controlled trial reported in the October issue of Physical Therapy (PTJ), the

scientific journal of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). This

finding supports feet-reaching play as an early intervention strategy to

encourage interaction with physical objects in preterm infants who have movement

problems within the first months of postnatal life.

Previous studies have shown that full-term infants make contact with toys using

their feet before reaching with their hands. Studies also have shown that

movement training advances feet reaching in full-term infants. Certain

populations of preterm infants are known to be delayed in hand reaching;

however, no studies have looked at feet-reaching in preterm infants.

" The presence of feet reaching and a positive training effect in this population

would suggest a novel and easily implemented intervention strategy to encourage

early object interaction in infants with special needs, " said Jill C. Heathcock,

PT, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Physical Therapy at Ohio State

University, and lead author of the study.

In this study, 27 preterm infants who were born at less than 33 weeks of

gestational age and weighed less than 5 lbs 8 oz received either movement

training or social training by their caregivers 5 days a week for 8 weeks.

Movement training consisted of three feet games: general leg movement, moving

the leg across the midline of the body, and distinct leg movements, such as

holding an infant's hip at 90 degrees and encouraging knee motion to contact the

toy with the foot. Caregivers of infants in the social training group positioned

their infant supine on the floor and sat near the infant's feet. The caregiver

interacted with their infant visually and verbally, but did not touch or present

objects to their infant.

During the 8-week training period, all infants were tested and videotaped for a

total of five sessions. Infants were seated in a custom-made chair with a strap

placed around the chest, allowing for free movement of the arms and legs. A toy

was presented to the infant at his or her midline at hip height for 30 seconds.

After each trial, the toy was removed from the infant's view and then

repositioned in the midline for the next trial.

Both groups of infants showed an equal number of foot-toy contacts over each

session. However, infants in the movement training group out-performed infants

in the social training group over time and during the last session.

" Our results suggest that preterm infants display a new and potentially

important ability to contact objects with their feet before their hands, " said

Heathcock. " This finding, coupled with a positive effect of training, provides

clinicians with a new intervention strategy for encouraging object interaction

within the first months of life in infants at risk for long-term motor

impairments. "

The study was funded in part by Heathcock's awards from the Foundation for

Physical Therapy.