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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2012;5(1):15-27.
doi: 10.3233/PRM-2011-0185.

Effects on motor development of kicking and stepping exercise in preterm infants with periventricular brain injury: a pilot study

Suzann K Campbell  1 , Deborah Gaebler-Spira, Laura Zawacki, April Clark, Kara Boynewicz, Raye-Ann deRegnier, Maxine M Kuroda, Rama Bhat, Jinsheng Yu, Rose Campise-Luther, Dipti Kale, Michelle Bulanda, Xiaohong Joe Zhou
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effects on motor development of kicking and stepping exercise in preterm infants with periventricular brain injury: a pilot study

Suzann K Campbell et al. J Pediatr Rehabil Med. 2012.

Abstract

Background: Preterm infants with periventricular brain injury (PBI) have a high incidence of atypical development and leg movements.

Objective: Determine whether kicking and treadmill stepping intervention beginning at 2 months corrected age (CA) in children with PBI improves motor function at 12 months CA when compared with control subjects.

Method: In a multi-center pilot study for a controlled clinical trial, sixteen infants with PBI were randomly assigned to home exercise consisting of kicking and treadmill stepping or a no-training control condition. Development was assessed at 2, 4, 6, 10, and 12 months CA with the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS). At 12 months children were classified as normal, delayed, or with cerebral palsy (CP).

Results: At 12 months CA 3 of 7 (43%) of the exercise group children walked alone or with one hand held versus 1 of 9 (11%) in the control group (p=0.262), but no significant differences in AIMS scores were found at any age. Half of the subjects had CP or delay; the outcomes of these infants were not improved by exercise. Compliance with the home program was lower than requested and may have affected results.

Conclusion: Although not statistically significant with a small sample size, self-produced kicking and treadmill exercise may lower age at walking in infants with normal development following PBI, but improvements of the protocol to increase and document compliance are needed before a larger study is implemented.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The lead author, SK Campbell, is part owner of Infant Motor Performance Scales, LLC (IMPS), the publisher of the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP). The TIMP was used in this study but is not included in the original data presented in this manuscript. IMPS, LLC, provided no funding for this study and the University of Illinois at Chicago deemed the conflict to be suitably handled by recognition of this ownership in the parental assent form approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board. Co-author Laura Zawacki presents workshops on the TIMP for IMPS, LLC. Other coauthors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Median Z Scores on the AIMS by Age for Exercise (n=7) and Control (n=9) Groups
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scores on the AIMS by Age for Individual Exercise and Control Group Children
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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