Comparative characteristics of postural control indicators in infants with varying degrees of motor development disorders

Among the consequences of perinatal damage of the central nervous system in the first year of life, the most frequently detected are motor disorders in the form of impaired motor development and developing cerebral palsy. At the stage of mastering the first antigravity poses in infants with impaired motor development and cerebral palsy, there is a violation of postural control, the features of which in infants with motor disorders have not been sufficiently studied. Purpose. To identify the features of postural control indicators in the postneonatal period in infants with impaired motor development and developing cerebral palsy. Materials and methods. 164 children of the first year of life were examined, among them 146 children of different gestational ages with the consequences of perinatal brain damage in the form of motor disorders (main group — B) and 18 full-term children without neurological pathology (control group — A). In a retrospective analysis conducted at the age of 1 year, patients of the main group were divided into 2 subgroups depending on the outcomes of motor disorders: the B1 subgroup ( n = 120) consisted of children with impaired motor development, the B2 ( n = 26) — patients with cerebral palsy. The examination included an assessment of the neurological status, a clinical assessment of postural control and computer stabilometry. Results. Clinical assessment of postural control showed a violation of all its types (static, active and reactive) in infants of the studied subgroups, while the severity of violations of the active and reactive types of postural control was higher in patients with developing cerebral palsy. The results of computer stabilometry also showed a greater severity of postural control disorders in patients with cerebral palsy. Conclusion. The revealed features of the postural control indicators in patients of the studied subgroups can be used to develop new objective criteria for diagnosing impaired motor development disorders and developing cerebral palsy.