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Does Physical Therapy Improve Outcome in Infants with Joint Hypermobility and Benign Hypotonia?

Child Development Center, Maccabi Health Services, Rishon Le-Zion, Israel

Tally Lerman-Sagie, MD

Pediatric Neurology Unit, Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel, asagie@ post.tau.ac.il

Luba Zuk, PhD

Physical Therapy Department, School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Taly Itkin-Webman, PhD

Child Development Center, Maccabi Health Services, Rishon Le-Zion, Israel

Michael Davidovitch, MD

Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

This study examined the effect of the frequency of physical therapy on the outcome of infants referred for delayed motor development due to joint hypermobility and benign hypotonia. The study groups comprised 29 infants (8-12 months) who were randomly placed into a monthly and weekly treatment groups. No difference was found between the 2 study group scores on the different tests at all assessment points. However, assessment of walking at the age of 15 months revealed a clear advantage of the infants who were treated weekly. Our study demonstrated a minor benefit of weekly treatment protocol only in the achievement of independent walking in children with joint hypermobility and benign hypotonia. It did not prove an advantage of weekly physical therapy. It seems that monthly physical therapy combined with a home treatment protocol implemented by the primary caregivers is sufficient to achieve motor catch-up.

Key Words: benign hypotonia • motor delay • physical therapy • early stepping • frequency

This version was published on June 1, 2009

Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 24, No. 6, 714-719 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0883073808329526


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