Assessment of muscle tone in extremely preterm, very preterm and moderate preterm infants at 40 weeks of corrected gestational age

Children born very prematurely can be expected to differ from healthy full-term babies in many aspects of their development. As the preterm infant is born before the complete development of muscle tone they have maturation related hypotonia. The amount of muscle tonal development in extrauterine life is different in preterm infants born at different gestational age. Many programs have been targeted in providing good stimulation for the neurodevelopment of the infant. External environment places a different demand in the development of muscle tone of children born at different gestational age. So, this tone changes during the different gestational age is being assessed at the 40th week of corrected age.

In this study Preterm infants will be selected based on the inclusion criteria from NICU in Sri Ramachandra hospital. Based on the gestational age infants will be grouped into group I, II, and III. Tone of the infants will be measured using AT angle after birth when the infant’s vitals are stable and all the infants will receive early stimulation program till the 40th week of corrected gestational age. In AT angles used for measurement were the adductor angle, heel to ear and popliteal angle, dorsiflexion angle and scarf sign. The same assessment will be repeated at 40th week of CGA.