title: Infantile postural asymmetry and osteopathic treatment: a randomized therapeutic trial.
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the therapeutic efficacy of osteopathic treatment in infants with postural asymmetry. A randomized clinical trial of efficacy with blinded videoscoring was performed. Sixty-one infants with postural asymmetry aged 6 to 12 weeks (mean 9wks) were recruited. Thirty-two infants (18 males, 14 females) with a gestational age of at least 36 weeks were found to be eligible and randomly assigned to the intervention groups, 16 receiving osteopathic treatment and 16 sham therapy. After a treatment period of 4 weeks the outcome was measured using a standardized scale (4-24 points). With sham therapy, five infants improved (at least 3 points), eight infants were unchanged (within 3 points), and three infants deteriorated (not more than -3 points); the mean improvement was 1.2 points (SD 3.5). In the osteopathic group, 13 infants improved and three remained unchanged; the mean improvement was 5.9 points (SD 3.8). The difference was significant (p=0.001). We conclude that osteopathic treatment in the first months of life improves the degree of asymmetry in infants with postural asymmetry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Neurology, University Children's Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany. Heike.Philippi@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Philippi
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Faldum
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schleupen
authors.forename: Bianka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pabst
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bergmann
authors.forename: Imke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bieber
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kaemmerer
authors.forename: Piet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dijs
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reitter
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D026301:Manipulation, Osteopathic / Q000379:methods*; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy*; D011187:Posture; D016896:Treatment Outcome