Effect of tactile-kinesthetic stimulation on weight gaining of low birth weight neonates

Low Birth Weight (2499 gr ≥ Birth Weight≥1500gr) is one of the most serious health problems in children of the world today. LBW prevalence in our country has been reported 10%. Many researches show that LBW infants who stay alive, may suffer from long-term and short-term physical, mental and social problems 2 or 3 times more than appropriate birth weight infants. The present study was done to determine effect of tactile-kinesthetic stimulation (TKS) in weight gaining of LBW neonates. This research was a clinical trial study that 40 LBW neonates were randomly allocated into test (20) and control (20) groups. TKS was provided for three 15 minute periods per day for10 consecutive days to the test group, with the massages consisting of moderate of pressure strokes in supine and prone positions and kinesthetic exercises consisting of flexion and extension of limbs. All measurements were taken before and after completion of the study with the same equipment and by the same person. Results indicated that weight gain in the intervention group was not significantly higher than that in the control group after the 10 days TKS. TKS is not an effective intervention in weight gaining of LBW neonates. Comparing this result with those of other researches, it seems to need more studies in this field.