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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Postural behavior in children born preterm
Bjørg Fallang1, Mijna Hadders-Algra
1Oslo University College, Health Sciences, Physiotherapy Programme, 0130 Oslo, Norway. bjorg.fallang@hf.hio.no
Insights
Preterm infants may exhibit atypical postural behavior, impacting neuromotor skills later in life. This study highlights how early motor development in preterm children affects school-age outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Motor Control
Background:
- Preterm infants often display atypical postural behavior, including reduced rotation during crawling and delayed walking.
- School-aged children born preterm may experience difficulties with balance tasks like standing on one leg and hopping.
- Early neurophysiological data suggest impaired postural control modulation and temporal disorganization in EMG responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the clinical and neurophysiological characteristics of postural behavior in preterm children without cerebral palsy (CP).
- To correlate early postural behavior with later neuromotor outcomes in school-aged children.
Main Methods:
- Clinical follow-up of preterm infants from infancy to school age.
- Neurophysiological assessment of postural control, including EMG response analysis.
- Analysis of postural responses during goal-directed reaching, measuring the total body center of pressure.
Main Results:
- Preterm infants demonstrated less mobile postural behavior compared to full-term infants.
- While less mobile postural behavior was associated with better reaching quality in infancy, it predicted less favorable neuromotor behavior at school age.
- Dysfunctions in modulating postural activity and temporal EMG disorganization were observed.
Conclusions:
- Atypical postural behavior in preterm infants, particularly reduced mobility during reaching, is linked to poorer neuromotor development later in childhood.
- Early identification and intervention for postural control deficits in preterm children may be crucial for optimizing long-term motor outcomes.
Abstract:
The present paper presents clinical and neurophysiological data of postural behavior in preterm children without CP. Clinical follow-up studies of preterm infants until toddler and school age have reported that low-risk preterm infants may have atypical postural behavior in terms of reduced amount of rotation during crawling, delayed dynamic balance, delayed onset of and a poor quality of early walking behavior. At school age, dysfunctions such as problems in standing on one leg and poor hopping are reported. Neurophysiological data of postural control at early age indicated the presence of a dysfunction in the capacity to modulate postural activity, and the postural activity has been characterized by temporal disorganization of EMG responses. Postural responses to goal-directed reaching in supine lying have been recorded and analyzed in terms of the total body center of pressure. In this study, preterm infants show less mobile postural behavior compared with full-term infants. In infancy, the less mobile postural behavior seemed to be adequate as it was related to better goal-directed reaching quality, but the results indicated that the relatively immobile postural behavior during reaching in early age was related to less favorable neuromotor behavior in school-age.
