Behavior During Tethered Kicking in Infants With Periventricular Brain Injury

Abstract

Purpose Describe behavior of children with periventricular brain injury (PBI) in a tethered-kicking intervention. Methods Sixteen infants with PBI were randomly assigned to exercise or no-training in a longitudinal pilot study. Frequency of leg movements and inter-limb coordination were described from videos at 2 and 4 months corrected age (CA). Results Eight of 13 children (62%) with longitudinal data increased the frequency of leg movements while tethered to a mobile between 2 and 4 months CA. Movement frequency was correlated with scores on the Test of Infant Motor Performance, but there were no differences between experimental groups. Children with typical development at 12 months CA increased the proportion of leg movements that were synchronous between 2 and 4 months as did a child with cerebral palsy in the experimental group. Conclusion The tethered-kicking intervention facilitates movement in infants with PBI but effects on development remain to be demonstrated.

Effects of Early Motor Interventions on Gross Motor and Locomotor Development for Infants at-Risk of Motor Delay: A Systematic Review

“…They reported on 10 independent studies. Six additional publications ( 24 – 29 ) correspond to supplementary analyses of four of the 10 selected ( 30 – 33 ). Consequently, these six publications are not reported here because they used the same cohorts and protocols as studies that were already included.…”

“…Finally, a more sensitive developmental scale such as the TIMP might have been used instead of the AIMS to evaluate the effects of the motor training, as AIMS norms have been found to contradict medical diagnosis on several occasions [see Cameron et al ( 38 )] ( 33 ). We should note that one subsequent publication [see Campbell et al ( 29 )] ( 28 ), which is not reported in detail here to avoid repetition, analyzed the effect of kicking training alone between 2 and 4 months in the same population trained in Campbell et al ( 29 ). However, no more positive results were reported.…”

Effect of Contingency Paradigm–Based Interventions on Developmental Outcomes in Young Infants: A Systematic Review

“…This systematic review identified 17 unique controlled trials using CPBI for improving feeding, motor, and cognitive outcomes in infants 28–32,34–37,39,40–43,45–47. Our review suggests that interventions based on contingency paradigms have potential for application to physical therapy practice, starting from NICU to early intervention in infancy.…”

“…Fourteen studies used contingency paradigms as either the primary or one of the key components of intervention to improve motor and cognitive outcomes in infants. 31,32,[34][35][36][37][39][40][41][42][43]46,47 Eleven studies included term born infants 31,32,[34][35][36][37][39][40][41]45,47 (n = 421) and 3 studies included preterm infants 42,43,46 (n = 63) resulting in a total of 484 infants across the 14 studies. Age at treatment onset had a range of 2 to 5 months.…”

“…43 The remaining one study that did not report change in manual exploration included a single session of 9-minute training. 45 Two studies measured the effectiveness of contingent toy training on feet exploration in preterm infants, 44,46 with 1 study specifically including preterm infants with periventricular brain injury (PBI). 46 The study including preterm infants without PBI reported improvements in feet-toy contacts in very preterm infants.…”