Craniosacral Therapy Children's, Balance-Coordination
Condition: Healthy Children
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Coordination and balance are manifested as motor skills or abilities that are acquired as the
      Central Nervous System develops. In the infant stage, these qualities help guide specialists
      to recognize possible abnormalities that at first glance seem banal, but that, as time goes
      by, acquire greater difficulty, causing even more complex problems in the long term.
      Craniosacral therapy could help these skills to be correctly established during growth,
      correcting such impairment in time during neurodevelopment. Objective: To correct possible
      alterations that occur during infant growth related to balance and coordination in
      neurodevelopment, by means of craniosacral therapy compared with the specific therapy of
      balance and coordination usually used in pathologies diagnosed of this caliber. Design:
      Longitudinal-experimental study with a population of 86 apparently healthy children.
      Setting/Participants: 86 children were treated without excluding sex and divided into three
      groups: placebo group (n=25), craniosacral therapy group (n=30) and balance and coordination
      therapy group (n=31). Interventions: group 1 (placebo), group 2 (craniosacral therapy) group
      3 (balance and coordination therapy). Results: The Battelle scale prior to the therapies
      developed in the study showed balance and coordination imbalances in the participants of the
      three groups, with lower percentages in the placebo treatment. Sessions from the 2nd to the
      7th of treatment show increasing percentages and fluctuating for craniosacral therapy between
      51% to 56% and 100% satisfaction, significantly valued. As for balance and coordination
      therapy, satisfaction percentages are evident only in the 6th and 7th sessions, with
      statistically significant values. Finally, the Battelle post-therapy assessment scale shows a
      higher number of participants in the percentages classified as normal (50-80%) in the
      craniosacral therapy group, improving the evaluated parameters with statistically significant
      values. Conclusion: The study shows that craniosacral therapy can not only act as a treatment
      for the improvement of children's balance and coordination, but also helps small corrections
      during children's neurodevelopment, avoiding the evolution of pathologies in the long term.
      It is therefore necessary for a more prompt, total and lasting correction of these skills in
      the infant.
    

Detailed description: 
      Design:

      A longitudinal-experimental study was carried out with a child population of 86 children aged
      6 to 8 years old without excluding sex in a school group in Cordoba (Spain).

      Participants:

      Eighty-six apparently healthy children between 6 and 8 years of age were treated as
      prevention in balance and coordination motor skills at the Gema León physiotherapy clinic in
      Córdoba (Spain). The children were divided into three groups: 25 patients in the placebo
      group (group 1), 30 patients in the craniosacral therapy group (group 2) and 31 patients in
      the balance and coordination therapy group (group 3).

      Primary outcome: A series of questions were asked to the children's parents in a virtual
      questionnaire on physical characteristics, previous health assessments and observations of
      their balance and coordination in front of their children. On the other hand, the school
      teachers examined neurobehavioral aspects of the students using the "Battelle Developmental
      Inventory" (BDI), which evaluates five areas of development (personal/social, adaptive,
      motor, communicative and cognitive) between 2 and 8 years of age. The results are assigned in
      age-adjusted percentages, classified as: low (0-49%), normal (50-79%) and high (80-100%). Low
      and high values are considered impairments in one or more of the areas evaluated.

      Secondary outcome: Seven treatment sessions were carried out with the balance and
      coordination therapeutic exercise techniques (group 3) most frequently used for the treatment
      of these pathologies; seven sessions of craniosacral therapy (group 2) as corrective and
      preventive in possible alterations during infant neurodevelopment and finally seven sessions
      simulating craniosacral therapy on a placebo group (group 1) as a control of the treatments
      used.

      The effectiveness values of the therapies were expressed as percentages of satisfaction with
      the classifications of 25 to 28% (apparent changes < to half of the sample in each therapy
      group), 51 to 56% (apparent changes in half of the sample in each therapy group) and 100%
      (apparent changes > to half of the sample in each therapy group). From the above, the
      absolute values of the sample in each therapy group are set as follows.

      Data analysis:

      The variables were expressed as mean, absolute and relative frequency. The chi-square test
      was used to analyze the differences between age ranges, balance and coordination problems
      versus physical therapy sessions performed, as well as the association between values of the
      Battelle scale of child neurodevelopment before and after the treatments. A confidence level
      of 95% was established, considering as statistically significant a value of p a value of
      p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
    

Intervention name(s): A series of questions were asked to the children's parents in a virtual questionnaire; neurobehavioral aspects of the students using the "Battelle Developmental Inventory" (BDI); Therapy sessions
Intervention type(s): Diagnostic Test; Diagnostic Test; Procedure
Intervention description(s): A series of questions were asked to the children's parents in a virtual questionnaire on physical characteristics, previous health assessments and observations of their balance and coordination in front of their children; the school teachers examined neurobehavioral aspects of the students using the "Battelle Developmental Inventory" (BDI), which evaluates five areas of development (personal/social, adaptive, motor, communicative and cognitive) between 2 and 8 years of age. The results are assigned in age-adjusted percentages, classified as: low (0-49%), normal (50-79%) and high (80-100%). Low and high values are considered impairments in one or more of the areas evaluated. Evaluation of the Battelle scale was carried out before and after the therapy sessions.; Seven treatment sessions were carried out with the balance and coordination therapeutic exercise techniques (group 3) most frequently used for the treatment of these pathologies; seven sessions of craniosacral therapy (group 2) as corrective and preventive in possible alterations during infant neurodevelopment and finally seven sessions simulating craniosacral therapy on a placebo group (group 1) as a control of the treatments used.
Other intervention name(s): questions were asked to the children's parents; "Battelle Developmental Inventory" (BDI)
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: 25 patients in the placebo group (group 1), 30 patients in the craniosacral therapy group (group 2) and 31 patients in the balance and coordination therapy group (group 3)
Masking: Quadruple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Balance; Coordination; Craniosacral therapy; infants; physiotherapy