General Movements as a Factor Reflecting the Normal or Impaired Motor Development in Infants
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General Movements as a Factor Reflecting the Normal or Impaired Motor Development in Infants I. A. Solopovaa, *, V. A. Selionova, I. Y. Dolinskayaa, b, and E. S. Keshishianc aKharkevich
Institute of Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia bMoscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, Russia c Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received October 9, 2019; revised December 2, 2019; accepted March 20, 2020
Abstract—Motor activity of infants becomes detectable as early as the first months (9–10 weeks) of fetal development. These movements constantly change during maturation of the fetus, are preserved after birth, and are called general movements. The complexity and variability of movements is a criterion for the normal motor development of infants in the postnatal period. Disturbances in maturation of the nervous system are reflected in abnormal patterns of general movements, and the patterns thus make it possible to diagnose perinatal brain lesions early. This is especially important in the case of preterm infants, who are at higher risk of developing neurological and motor disorders. This review describes the main types of general movements characteristic of normal motor development, the atypical motor patterns that have a predictive value for early prediction of cerebral palsy, and the putative neural substrates that determine the development of normal and abnormal general movements. Various methods are available for assessing general movements, including both qualitative techniques, which are based on visual assessment of motor patterns, and quantitative methods, which employ technologies of automated general movement recognition and analysis. Keywords: infants, general movements, abnormality of the general movement pattern, neuromotor assessment of motor development DOI: 10.1134/S036211972004012X
INTRODUCTION Motor activity of infants in the first months of life is an important prerequisite to the development of voluntary motor skills and adequate responses to environmental changes. During motor ontogeny, the infant proceeds through several stages from spontaneous motor activity to voluntary coordinated movements, which arise as the nervous system and especially the corticospinal tract develop and mature. Involuntary movements help the infant to perceive the environment and to learn how to control their body. Qualitative and quantitative parameters of such movements are therefore good predictors of the formation of normal purposeful movements at an older age [1]. Studies of fetal motor behavior in uterus became possible with the development of 3D/4D ultrasound technologies. Great diversity of specific movement patterns were observed for human fetuses as early as the first trimester of pregnancy [2, 3]. First movements of the fetus start at 7 weeks of conceptual age and include small slow side-to-side rotations of the head or trunk. Startle movements appea
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