Postnatally, the stepping response can be elicited right after birth, but soon diminishes
and disappears by about 2 - 3 months of age. It is still not clear if the disappearance
of the response is caused by gradual maturation of the central nervous system, environmental
factors, or biomechanical factors such as added body weight and/or increased muscle
mass of the legs. This clinical study assessed the stepping response in a group of
healthy infants (n = 58) at the age of 6 weeks: 37 born preterm and corrected for
gestational age. Quantitative measures of stepping response were obtained together
with the qualitative measures of behavioural state and the distribution of active
and passive muscle power of the legs. Mechanical factors were studied by dividing
the infants according to their birth weight status, and calculating the ponderal index
(PI), leg volume (LV), and weight gain of each group. Preterm infants show more stepping
responses, more muscle power discrepancies, and different leg volumes than their full-term
counterparts. In addition, our results reported significant relationship between gestational
age and relative birth weight on the manifestation of stepping response. Within the
preterm group the responses lingered longer in infants with shorter gestational ages
and in those with lower birth weight status. Consequently, this study suggests that
environmental experience and the time of birth of the infants play a more significant
role than maturation and mechanical factors in the manifestation of the infantile
stepping response.
Key words
Stepping response - Preterm and full-term infants - Maturation - Environmental experience
- Muscle mass
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Katalin Borvendeg
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