Published by Oxford University Press the doctors B Herd, J Chiang, M Patterson, V Regueiro concluded in their recent article “The Physiological Effects of Infant Massage Techniques in a 17-month-old Patient with Bohring-Opitz Syndrome” that infant massage can offer initial support and they suggest that further research is needed to integrate infant massage into the clinical treatment of patients with Bohring-Opitz Syndrome for better health outcomes.
“Infant massage is a supportive intervention with documented positive effects in medically-fragile infants, suggesting its potential as a non-pharmacological treatment in Bohring-Opitz Syndrome (BOS).”
The boy, born after 32 weeks of pregnancy, exhibited typical characteristics of Bohring-Opitz Syndrome: chronic respiratory problems and infections, nutritional problems, epilepsy and prolonged sedation wean. The doctors gave infant massage about 15 minutes a week on hands and feet, with the aim of lowering the heart rate. A reduced heart rate was measured after all massage sessions. The massage, given over a period of 3 months, decreased non-purposeful body movements, increased tactile orientation as well as improved nutritional intolerance and resulted in a timely discharge from the hospital.
The doctors concluded that patients with Bohring-Opitz Syndrome can benefit from infant massage. They suggest that further research is needed to integrate infant massage into the clinical treatment of patients with BOS for better health outcomes.
Parent of a child with Bohring-Opitz syndrome often face the question: “What is the best we can we do for our child?” and making a good choice out many therapies isn’t easy. To find out which therapies our children can benefit from, the Bohring-Opitz Parent support group is a good source to learn from each other. But for doctors it is slightly different, they cannot base their treatment on experience reports out a support group and information about clinical management of patients with BOS is limited. Only when a (scientific) study has been published about different therapies and treatments, they may be seriously considered whether it will benefit their patient. For this background we welcome and appreciate that therapies and treatment options for patients with Bohring-Opitz Syndrome are continued to be published, so that perhaps other children can benefit from it.
Read here the article: B Herd, J Chiang, M Patterson, V Regueiro, C-62 The Physiological Effects of Infant Massage Techniques in a 17-month-old Patient with Bohring-Opitz Syndrome, Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, Volume 34, Issue 6, August 2019, Page 1091, https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acz034.224
Bohring-Opitz Syndrome 