What does increased tone in a child mean? Is massage effective? And what other methods of treating hypertension exist, we will talk below.
To talk about increased tone in a child as a disease, first you need to figure out what hypertonicity is and at what age it is a problem, and at what it is the norm. Increased muscle tension, expressed in their overstrain, is hypertonicity. If we turn to statistics, then in 90% of babies, muscle tone is increased. This condition is quite normal for a child in the womb. In the position inside the uterus, the baby is in a compressed state, where the arms and legs are bent and pressed tightly to the body. Having been born, the baby gets freedom of movement, so the baby's muscle tone should return to normal.
Age features
This condition does not disappear immediately, gradually, and as the baby grows and acquires certain motor skills, hypertonicity disappears.
Hypertonicity in the baby at the firstmonth of life is most pronounced, which is well manifested in the general "squeezed state" of the child. The fists are clenched, the legs are pressed to the body, if you try to spread the legs, the baby will resist. In the supine position, the baby presses his arms to himself and lies in a position very similar to the position of the embryo. The folds on the legs should be symmetrical and, if you bring the legs together, form a smile. If, in the supine position, the baby turns his head left and right, and seems to be trying to crawl with his legs, this is not a pathology and speaks of normal development and moderate muscle tone of the crumbs. If, at the age of up to one month, a child often holds his head, this is rather not a sign of his uniqueness and rapid development, but an overstrain of the neck muscles. Massage is effective for the treatment of hypertension for a 1-month-old baby.
For a three-month-old baby, confidently holding the head, is characterized by the absence of hypertonicity. A kid at this age already reacts to toys, pulls handles to them, is able to grab and hold objects in his hand. However, while maintaining some signs of increased muscle tone, do not be afraid, each child is individual and you should wait and observe a little.
Increased muscle tone in a child by 6 months should disappear, if this did not happen at this age, you should see a specialist. A six-month-old baby is no longer the clumsy as before, his movements are more conscious and purposeful. The fists open, the baby tries to crawl, rolls over on his back and from his back to his stomach, sits or tries to sit.
At nine months, the baby is especiallyactive, he stands near the support, crawls, sits down. In the presence of hypertension in a baby at this age, massage is especially effective in eliminating it, since the main purpose of massage is to relieve muscle tone.
One year old baby is already trying to take the first steps. If hypertonicity is diagnosed in a child at this age, treatment in the form of massage and baths remains the same, if positive dynamics are not observed by one and a half years, additional diagnostics are prescribed and the treatment method is reviewed. By three years, hypertonicity can be expressed in walking on the foot, but on tiptoe (in case of increased tone of the legs) and violation of fine motor skills of the hands (in case of increased tone of the hands).
By the age of five, increased muscle tone can become a real problem. A child of preschool age begins to lag behind his peers in development, in some cases it can become the basis for establishing disability. Studying at school with peers becomes difficult and often such children have to study in special educational institutions.
Thus, early detection of muscle hypertonicity allows you to effectively select recreational activities and eliminate increased tone. Therefore, it is especially important to pay attention to the symptoms of hypertension in a timely manner, which greatly increases the chances of recovery.
Reasons
The causes of hypertonicity in a child can be very different, ranging from genetic predisposition to birth trauma. However, despite the individualeach case, there are a number of factors that often cause increased muscle tone. These include:
- the presence of Rhesus conflict;
- bad environment;
- severe pregnancy (infections and previous acute illnesses);
- fetal hypoxia during pregnancy or childbirth;
- hemolytic disease of the child;
- difficult labor and birth trauma;
- the presence of bad habits in a pregnant woman;
- excessive nervous excitability;
- severe toxicosis of the mother in the first or last trimester of pregnancy;
- chronic diseases of the mother.
One way or another, increased muscle tone in a child is not a pathology at birth, but in the presence of any of the above factors, muscle tone may not return to normal over a long period of time.
Signs of hypertonicity
Depending on whether the tension of all the muscles in the child is increased, or the increased tone in the child covers only the limbs, or only the arms or legs, there are also symptoms of hypertonicity. It has the following general symptoms:
- baby sleeps anxiously and little, wakes up at the slightest discomfort or sound;
- baby often cries for no apparent reason, often requires breasts;
- it is difficult to spread the legs, the baby often cries and actively resists;
- handles tucked in, head tilted back;
- when crying, the chin trembles, and the baby throws back his head, arches his back;
- when holding the head, there is excessivemuscle tension;
- constant regurgitation after eating, possibly during meals;
- refusing food.
With hypertonicity of the legs, slow motor development is characteristic: the child does not crawl, does not begin to make attempts to walk. In a standing position with your support, the child tries to walk on tiptoe without putting emphasis on the entire foot.
Clenched fists and difficulty in spreading the handles to the sides in the supine position, indicate an increased tone of the muscles of the hands. These symptoms are the basis for an immediate visit to a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
Reflex tests
Another important method for diagnosing increased tone in a child is the assessment of reflexes. The results of this test can most accurately be assessed by a doctor. When visiting a local therapist, you can often notice testing precisely for the presence or absence of the following reflexes at a certain age of the baby:
- The tonic reflex should fade away by three months, but if this does not happen, then this may indicate the presence of hypertonicity. So the child, lying on his stomach, will bend his legs, and on his back, straighten them.
- After reaching the age of two months, the child may try to walk, standing on his toes, and not on his whole leg (stepping reflex).
- Symmetrical and asymmetric reflexes should fade away by three months. In the supine position, if you turn the head to the left, the left arm and leg will straighten, and the right arm, on the contrary, will bend. Atpressing the chin to the chest, lying on the back, bend the arms and straighten the legs.
- When trying to seat the baby, he does not take his hands off his chest.
Treatment
What to do with increased tone in a child? If, upon reaching the age of six months, the symptoms of increased muscle tone persist and a neuropathologist diagnosed muscle hypertonicity, with the proper treatment, hypertonicity may disappear completely.
Massage for hypertension
The main direction in the fight against hypertonicity is massage. The main purpose of the massage is gentle relaxation of tense muscles. Availability is a significant advantage. So for preventive purposes, massage can be started from 2 weeks of age. Mom can act as a massage therapist, and massage is turned into an interesting exciting game with mandatory communication with a loved one. In the case of prescribing massage for children for therapeutic purposes, it is better to entrust the procedure to a competent specialist. But do not forget about the very big advantage of mom's massage - this is a close and dear person, and it will be much easier for mom to achieve relaxation and comfort for the baby. Therapeutic massage for a child from 1 month and older is usually prescribed as a course, after the end of the course the dynamics of the disease is assessed and, if necessary, the courses are repeated after a short rest.
Given the small age of the patient before the massage, it is imperative to lubricate the hands with oil, as the skin of babies is very delicate and does not damage itlabor. Massage should not be done immediately after eating or after waking up, the child should come to his senses, be in a good mood. It is important to establish contact with the child, as massage, against the will and with the periodic crying of the child, loses its healing properties. All movements should be done smoothly, not abruptly, softly and gently. Minimal effort is enough, patting and deep kneading are unacceptable. In case of a negative reaction to your actions, it is better for children to stop massaging and eliminate the cause of dissatisfaction (this may be the cold hands of the massage therapist or the low temperature in the room).
Massage manipulations
They can be divided into:
- Stroking and rubbing. It is better to start with stroking movements of the arms, legs, moving to the back. As a rule, babies are more willing to massage their legs than their hands. Therefore, it is important to determine the order for the effective continuation of the massage. With rubbing, you need to be very careful and not overdo it.
- With rubbing soft movements, touch the parts of the body in the direction from the bottom up. First, do this massage while lying on your tummy, then turn it over onto your back.
- Shaking and rocking:
- Gently shake your hands, be sure to hold your forearm, shake your legs. If the baby is reluctant to do some exercises, resists, you can try to slightly shake the limbs and do this exercise, if the resistance still does not decrease, go to another exercise.
- Shake the handles in different directions, do the same with the legs, shaking the legsholding them by the shin.
It is better to finish the massage with light strokes to calm the agitated baby. It is important to maintain contact with the child, to speak affectionately and encourage each successful exercise, a step towards you, and in no case raise your voice.
Special attention should be paid to massage the legs when an increased tone of the leg muscles is detected, since the aggravation of the problem has a very negative effect on the acquisition of such an important skill as walking.
When massaging the legs, hold them by the shins and start stroking from the bottom up, repeating the movements about eight times, then go to the back of the thigh. This is followed by soft rubbing with fingertips in the same direction - from bottom to top. Easily stroke the feet, moving from the toes to the heel. At the base of the thumb, you should lightly press, fingers close, then draw along the outer part of the foot, the fingers will straighten out with a “fan”, repeat this several times. Next, with your thumb, you can “draw a figure eight” on the foot. You can lightly stretch the foot by gently pressing with your thumb. Then you should stroke the area from the fingers to the ankle joint, continue to gently rub this area, gently pressing, touching.
After massaging the legs, you can do simple exercises. Taking the legs by the knees, alternately bend them, gently pressing on the tummy. This exercise is also useful for toddlers who are still bothered by gassies. Bending the legs at the knee joint, the knees are spread in opposite directions, and the feet are folded together,gently rubbing against each other. If the exercises are done correctly and gently, you will not only advance in solving the problem of hypertonicity, but also give the baby the necessary communication with a loved one.
Soothing bath
The bath, like massage, has a relaxing effect on the muscles, with the addition of herbs such as eucalyptus, lavender, motherwort, sage, valerian, coniferous plants, the relaxing effect of the bath is enhanced. As a rule, a bath is prescribed by a doctor with the addition of an ingredient suitable for a particular baby in a course. If necessary, the cycle of baths is repeated. In some cases, the herbs alternate. An important aspect in the appointment of a particular medicinal plant is the individual tolerance of the child.
Appropriate care
Also, for the treatment of muscle hypertonicity in children, the following activities aimed at relaxing and reducing muscle tone can become effective:
- Taking vitamin B, diuretics.
- Therapeutic exercise, exercise using fitball.
- Heat therapy.
- Mud treatment.
- Electrophoresis.
Drug treatment is prescribed only in cases where more gentle measures do not lead to positive dynamics. In most cases, a timely diagnosis and following the doctor's prescriptions give positive results without the need for medical intervention.
In addition to the treatment prescribed by a competent specialist, the correct treatment plays an important roleparent-organized care and psychological climate. Providing moral and domestic comfort is the primary concern and task of parents.
- It is important to exclude physical activity that creates additional tension in the muscles that are in high tone.
- The psychological climate in the family, a favorable and friendly environment allows the baby to be relaxed, calm and does not lead to nervous tension.
- It is important to create a favorable atmosphere in the child's rest room, the absence of irritants in the form of loud sounds, bright light, acceptable air temperature and permissible air humidity.
In any case, whatever method of treating hypertonicity is chosen, it is important to provide comfortable treatment for the baby, since hypertonicity is an increased muscle tension, therefore, in order to avoid it, you need to achieve relaxation.
Why is hypertonicity dangerous?
The main problem in eliminating hypertonicity in infants is the initially incorrect approach of parents to this problem. Due to the fact that in newborns hypertonicity is the norm (due to being in a cramped position in the womb), many parents do not pay due attention if this condition is prolonged, and consider it to be quite normal and physiological. We remind you that the state of increased muscle tone should normally pass by three months, but if this does not happen by six, this is a reason to see a doctor.
If, nevertheless, a child has hypertonicity, and appropriate measures were taken out of time or notaccepted at all, this can lead to serious developmental disabilities:
- Lagging behind in the motor activity of the child. He starts crawling and walking late. The coordination of movements is disturbed, an incorrect gait and posture are formed.
- With hypertonicity of the hands, fine motor skills suffer, the child fails to grasp objects with his hands, he cannot fully manipulate them.
- Curvature of the spine.
- Lagging behind in general development (speech impairment), mental development.
- Violation of the internal organs of the child.
Child mode with hypertonicity
In the alternation of feeding, sleeping and playing, the baby should not be much different from a he althy child. Moreover, an important task of parents is not to create additional tension and stress for him. You should not force the baby to a certain regime that is inconvenient for him. The child's body itself is able to determine when it wants to sleep, when to eat, when to play, so be careful and it will tell you what it needs right now. If you forcibly force you to stay awake or put you to sleep through crying, these actions will lead to an aggravation of the problem, since any tension, including nervous tension, is highly undesirable in this case. Also, you should not set a feeding schedule at a certain interval, because for a baby, mother's breasts are not only food, but also a way to relax, calm down and even fall asleep.
The most important tool in the fight against hypertonicity is attentionparents. No doctor spends as much time with your child as a mom or dad does, who are able to catch the warning symptoms almost immediately and take action. After all, the sooner this issue is de alt with, the faster and more effectively the results will be noticeable.
I hope that in this article you have found all the information you are interested in and learned what hypertonicity is.
