The effectiveness of Baby-CIMT in infants younger than 12 months with clinical signs of unilateral-cerebral palsy; an explorative study with randomized design

• Published in: Research in developmental disabilities Vol. 72; pp. 191 - 201
• Main Authors: Eliasson, Ann-Christin, Nordstrand, Linda, Ek, Linda, Lennartsson, Finn, Sjöstrand, Lena, Tedroff, Kristina, Krumlinde-Sundholm, Lena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2018
• Subjects: Children; Constraint-induced movement therapy; Early intervention; Hand function; Hemiplegia; Infant; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Unilateral cerebral palsy; Early intervention; RCT; Unilateral cerebral palsy; MRI; Constraint-induced movement therapy; Baby-CIMT; Infant; CP; AIMS; HAI; CIMT; Hand function; WMDI; PSCS; Hemiplegia; Children
• ISSN: 0891-4222; 1873-3379; 1873-3379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2017.11.006

•Baby-CIMT performed during the first year of life in children diagnosed with unilateral CP at one year of age appears to positively influence the early development of hand function.•The hand use increase in all infants during the 18 weeks study period.•Both baby-CIMT and baby-massage was feasible interventions for the parents.
To explore the effectiveness of baby-CIMT (constraint-induced movement therapy) and baby-massage for improving the manual ability of infants younger than 12 months with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP).
Infants eligible for inclusion were 3–8 months old with asymmetric hand function and at high risk of developing unilateral CP. Thirty-seven infants were assigned randomly to receive baby-CIMT or baby-massage. At one year of age 31 children were diagnosed with unilateral CP, 18 (8 boys, 6.1±1.7months) of these had received baby-CIMT and 13 (8 boys, 5.0±1.6months) baby-massage. There were two 6-week training periods separated by a 6-week pause. The Hand Assessment for Infants (HAI), Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA), the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSCS) and a questionnaire concerning feasibility were applied.
There was improvement in the “Affected hand score” of HAI from median 10 (6;13 IQR) to 13 (7;17 IQR) raw score in the baby-CIMT group and from 5 (4;11 IQR) to 6 (3;12 IQR) for baby-massage with a significant between group difference (p=0.041). At 18-month of age, the median AHA score were 51 (38;72 IQR) after baby-CIMT (n=18) compared to 24 (19;43 IQR) baby-massage (n=9). The PSCS revealed an enhanced sense of competence of being a parent among fathers in the baby-CIMT group compared to fathers in the baby-massage (p=0.002). Parents considered both interventions to be feasible.
Baby-CIMT appears to improve the unimanual ability of young children with unilateral CP more than massage.