Comparative Study on Effect of Vestibular Stimulation and Tactile Stimulation along with Kinaesthetic Stimulation on Neuromuscular Development of Premature Infants

Our aim is to compare the effects of vestibular stimulation and tactile stimulation along with kinaesthetic stimulation on neuromuscular development of premature infants. Premature birth is the most common cause of infants' death considered as one of the risk factors for developmental disabilities, which can lead to long-term complications in the nervous system of infants. Since up to now, only few, many studies conducted under preterm infants our study is an attempt to find the effects on vestibular stimulation and tactile stimulation along with kinaesthetic stimulation on neuromuscular development of premature infants. Twenty infants were selected and divided into 2 groups based on inclusion criteria - infants born between 30 to 36 weeks, no history of cardiorespiratory problems, surgery, 5 min Apgar score less than 5. Infants born after 36 weeks, with a history of cardiorespiratory, neurological problem, congenital malformation are excluded. Group-A treated with vestibular stimulation and kinaesthetic stimulation for a period of 4 weeks (5 sessions/week)for 12 min. Group-B receives tactile stimulation and kinaesthetic stimulation for a period of 4 weeks (5sessions/week) for 12 min. New Ballard score is used as outcome measure for both pretest and posttest. Result of the study shows that both vestibular stimulation with kinaesthetic stimulation and tactile stimulation with kinaesthetic stimulation shows higher significant improvement. However vestibular stimulation with kinaesthetic stimulation shows more significance and effective in improving neuromuscular development of premature infants. The study concludes that vestibular stimulation and kinaesthetic stimulation is more effective than tactile stimulation and kinaesthetic stimulation in improving neuromuscular development of premature infants.