Effect of osteopathic treatment on premature infants with regulation problems
Item
- Title
- Effect of osteopathic treatment on premature infants with regulation problems
- Author(s)
- Rajchl Elisabeth
- Abstract
-
Study Design
experimental, clinical, within subject
Outline/Problem Definition
Regulation disorders of young infants are a common and often serious problem for parents. My intention was to evaluate the effect of osteopathic treatment on excessive crying and sleeping disorders among preterm infants delivered by caesarean section.
Research Question & Objective
Is there a positive influence in the symptoms of crying and sleeping problems of preterms with osteopathic treatments?
Hypothesis
osteopathic treatments have a positive influence on preterm infants with regulation problems.
Relevance for the Patients
In my job at the children`s hospital in Vienna, I become acquainted with a lot of preterms with regulation problems and their parents. I realized their extremely psychosocial and organic stress, they are confronted with. In the improvement of their symptoms, there could be a positive feedback indicated for both of them.
Relevance for Osteopathy
Besides the conventional therapeutical concepts for excessive crying and sleep problems (pharmaceutical, dietary, naturopathic, behavioural interventions), there could be created a new advantage of treatment for these kids. This will be have a positive influence in the osteopathic existence in Austria. Statistical data, released on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the Austrian Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, show, that incidence of preterm deliveries increased by 13% and incidence of preterm deliveries of infants with less than 1000g birth weight by 87% since 1990. ( Austrian Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 2004).
Methodology
METHODS: Data about the crying and sleeping behaviour of ten preterm infants were collected by means of a questionnaire and journals filled by the parents during two five-day observation periods. The first observation period started immediately after the first osteopathic treatment, the second four weeks later. Osteopathic treatment was individually adjusted to the infants.
Variables used for the evaluation were the daily duration of crying, fussing and uneasiness as well as the daily sleeping time, the number and duration of individual periods and the intervals between two succeeding periods. Additionally, time needed to fall asleep and the number of wake periods during night were considered. A general comparison of the data of the initial state and the two observation periods was performed by means of paired samples-t-tests and for each infant individually by independent samples t-tests.
Results
Crying behaviour is significantly improved by osteopathic treatment. On average, the infants cry more than two hours less per day compared to the initial state before osteopathic treatment (p= 0.006) and in most cases, an additional reduction of fussing can be observed. Individually, improvements in crying behaviour, that means less and shorter periods of crying, can be observed among 90% of the infants.
In contrary, sleeping behaviour of the infants does not improve significantly.
Critical Reflection/Perspectives/Conclusions
Crying behaviour is significantly improved by osteopathic therapy, but no significant changes of the sleeping behaviour could be observed. Either osteopathic treatment affects the reasons for sleeping disorders and excessive crying in different ways or the reorganisation of the sleep-wake rhythm takes a longer time.
Additional Information
This masterthesis will be a experimental, clinical, within subject study, I was not able to select a control group, in the knowledge, that osteopathy can really help to allay the distress of these infants and their stressed parents. - presented at
- Wiener Schule für Osteopathie
- Date Accepted
- 2008
- Date Submitted
- 1.2.2008 00:00:00
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 13411
- Inst-Identifier
- 781
- Keywords
- Infants
- Recommended
- 0
- Medium
- Rajchl_Elisabeth.pdf
- Item sets
- Thesis
- Media
- Rajchl_Elisabeth.pdf
Rajchl Elisabeth, “Effect of osteopathic treatment on premature infants with regulation problems”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 17, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.org/s/orw/item/3005