NCT00661791

Effects of Massage Therapy and Kinesthetic Stimulation on Pre-Term Infants

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (actual)
• Sponsor: George Washington University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 28 Weeks – 32 Weeks
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study was to determine whether massage with or without physical exercise impacted weight gain or length of hospital stay for premature infants.

Detailed description

Premature infants are often cared for in a fashion that minimizes physical activity in order to reduce stress and stress-related complications. Previous studies have indicated that massage therapy may increase weight gain and enabled earlier discharge of premature infants. In this study, premature infants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: A: Control Group B: Massage Group, 15 minutes twice a day; C: Massage and physical exercise group 15 minutes each, twice a day.

Conditions

• Prematurity

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Massage therapy without exercise	Infants will receive massage twice a day; 15 minutes each.
BEHAVIORAL	Massage therapy with exercise	Infants will receive massage with exercise twice a day; 15 minutes each.

Timeline

• Start date: 2003-02-01
• Primary completion: 2007-04-01
• Completion: 2007-10-01
• First posted: 2008-04-18
• Last updated: 2008-04-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States