Children with hypotonia of the muscles near the cervical spine have reduced head control and are unable to maintain an upright head posture. These children often use an external head support to hold their heads upright.
Low muscle tone is used to describe muscles that are floppy, which is also known as hypotonia. Children with low muscle tone may need to put in more effort to get their muscles moving properly when they are doing an activity. They may also have difficulty maintaining good posture when sitting or standing.
Hypotonic infants rest with their elbows and knees loosely extended, while infants with normal tone tend to have flexed elbows and knees. Head control may be poor or absent in the floppy infant with the head falling to the side, backward or forward. The central nervous system comprises the brain and spinal cord.
Hypotonia can be caused by a variety of conditions, including those that involve the central nervous system, muscle disorders, and genetic disorders. Some common causes can include but are not limited to: Down syndrome. muscular dystrophy.
An infant with a benign form of congenital hypotonia will move her arms and legs frequently: batting, roving, and sometimes synchronous movements come and go depending on level of alertness.
Is hypotonia a disability? Hypotonia, as a condition on its own, could identify as a disability because it can affect how a person performs their daily tasks. It's extremely rare for a baby to have a hypotonia diagnosis without an underlying condition associated with it.
The more common causes of hypotonia in our study were cerebral malformations and genetic–metabolic disorders. More than 50% of diagnosis could be identified by careful history and physical examination. Neuroimaging is the next most importance in diagnosis.
However, the term 'benign congenital hypotonia' is still used to describe children with mild hypotonia who appear to have a favourable outcome and in whom no other diagnosis can at this stage be made.
Hypotonic is a type of cerebral palsy caused by damage to the cerebellum of the brain during childbirth. This brain damage can result in floppy muscles, excessive flexibility, issues with stability, and developmental delays.
For a child with cerebral palsy, which affects the muscles and movements, physical delays in development is often the first sign that leads to a diagnosis. Early milestones, up to about two months of age, include holding up the head and pushing up when lying on the stomach.
When your baby is between 1 and 3 months old, she'll be gradually gaining the strength needed to hold her head up. By around 2 months, while she's lying on her stomach, you might notice she can raise her head for just a few seconds at a time. These brief moments help strengthen the muscles in the back of her neck.
Three months to four months
When you hold your baby on your shoulder, they should have enough control to hold their head up without any support from you . Try this fun game that will help to develop your baby's neck muscles.
Central hypotonia can result in reflux and/or constipation due to abnormalities in coordination of voluntary and involuntary muscle function. Hypotonic postures and low muscle activity can create challenges for care-giving and participation in daily life activities.
Use big movement/heavy work activities such as wheel-barrow, bear, crab, and hill walking. Practice jumping activities such as double leg jump, frog jump, and side jumps. Occupational and physical therapy treatment to strengthen and improve motor planning will help the child perform age appropriate skills.
Children and babies with hypotonia often need to put in more effort to move properly, have a hard time maintaining posture and have delays in motor, feeding and verbal skills. Hypotonia can be caused by issues with the muscles or nerves, but often the cause is unknown.
There are varying degrees of hypotonia. Some kids have a more severe case than others. It can also centralize in certain body parts or impact the whole body.
Infants and newborns diagnosed with hypertonia have stiff muscles, especially their arms, legs and neck, which can be difficult to move. Muscle tone is the amount of resistance (tension) to movement in your muscles. You can feel your muscle tone if you pinch your bicep while it's relaxing.
Mild head lag is a common finding in newborns and usually resolves by itself; however, the presence of severe persistent head lag beyond 3 to 4 months of age typically points to disorders related to hypotonia and muscle weakness in infancy.
Hypotonia Risk Factors
Babies born prematurely, who suffer injury, and who have a family history of a condition that causes hypotonia can be at the highest risk for developing this condition.
Hypotonia in early ages is believed to contribute to the development of many ASD-associated features, including poor motor skills, difficult speech production and social challenges.
Hypotonia may start prenatally, and the abnormal postures can lead to a neck deformity called torticollis, that develops in some children who hold their head to one side (20, 24). Hypotonia may be associated with global developmental delay, either as a cause or a result of delayed milestones (21, 25).
The consensus was that children with hypotonia have decreased strength, decreased activity tolerance, delayed motor skills development, rounded shoulder posture, with leaning onto supports, hypermobile joints, increased flexibility, and poor attention and motivation.
Rapid eye movement (REM)-induced hypotonia of the major upper airway dilating muscle (genioglossus) potentially contributes to the worsening of obstructive sleep apnea that occurs during this stage.