Muscle tonicity of children with spastic cerebral palsy: how effective is Swedish massage?

Massage therapy is one of the most widely used complementary and alternative medicine therapies for children. This study was conducted to determine the effect of Swedish massage on the muscle tonicity of children with spastic cerebral palsy [CP]. This study was a single blind clinical trial conducted on forty children with spastic CP, recruited from clinics of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences. They were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Routine occupational therapy techniques were performed during a 3 monthperiod in both groups, while the intervention group also received Swedish massage for 30 minutes before every rehabilitation session. Muscle tonicity was evaluated at the beginning of the study and 3 months later using the Modified Ashworth Scale. The average ages of children in the intervention [n=13] and control [n=14] groups were 49.5 and 42.1 months respectively. Although after intervention, tonicity of upper and lower limbs, trunk and neck in the intervention group in comparison with controls had no significant differences, there were statistically significant differences in reduction rate of tonicity in upper limbs and trunk between the two groups [P <0.05]. Massage therapy is not a panacea for improvement of spasticity in children with CP but the encouraging results of other studies on children with CP indicate that further studies are needed for more definite results

Motor developmental delay in 7500 Iranian infants: prevalence and risk factors

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and the most common risk factors of motor developmental delay in infants. Following ethical approval, a study was carried out on the prevalence and risk factors of infants with motor developmental delay. The first stage was conducted through a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of motor developmental delay on 7500 infants and the second stage was an analytic case - control survey to identify the most common risk factors on 140 infants, aged one month to three years with motor developmental delay. Data was collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status questionnaire, the Denver Developmental Screening Test II, a neurological assessment form, and the movement and tone assessment form. The prevalence of motor developmental delay in 7500 infants was 18.7/1000. The most common risk factors in infants with motor developmental delay were prematurity [25.6%], low birth weight [19.2%], neonatal seizures [7.5%], hyaline membrane disease [6.7%], systemic infections of mothers during pregnancy [5.9%], severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia [5%] in sequence. Motor developmental delay was significantly correlated with consanguinity of parents [p=0.001], prematurity [p=0.046], abnormal head circumference at birth [p=0.038], and low birth weight [p=0.026]. The prevalence of motor developmental delay appears to be high and further studies should focus on different preventive strategies, controlling the most common risk factors and emphasizing on early detection and treatment of high risk infants