Premature births are a worldwide epidemic reaching about 15 million premature births per year. While survival has increased among premature babies, there is still potential for them to have lifelong health problems including cerebral palsy, cognitive disabilities, developmental delays, and more. A study was conducted in Paris France to examine interventions' effectiveness on the motor and general development of premature infants within their first year of life. In this study, they created three groups of premature infants and performed at-home interventions using trained therapists. The first group was trained for crawling using a Crawliskate. A Crawliskate is like a mini skateboard that goes under the front of the infant. It allows for the infant’s abdomen and head to be lifted off the ground so it can use its arms and legs to propel freely. The next group was one where the infants were trained in a prone position. In this group, the infant was laid chest down and the therapist would observe their movements. The last group was the control group which did not receive any form of intervention. The results of this study showed the Crawliskate positively affected motor development as the infants in the Crawliskate group performed better on motor development tasks like crawling at nine months than the other two groups did. These findings are important because they show how early interventions can be effective in promoting motor and general development in infants.
By: Disha Aggarwal
Citation:
Dumuids-Vernet M-V, Forma V, Provasi J, Anderson DI, Hinnekens E, Soyez E, Strassel M,
Guéret L, Hym C, Huet V, Granjon L, Calamy L, Dassieu G, Boujenah L, Dollat C, Biran V and Barbu-Roth M (2023) Stimulating the motor development of very premature infants: effects of early crawling training on a mini-skateboard. Front. Pediatr. 11:1198016. doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.1198016