Retrospective study of Rougan Tongdu Tuina combined with point-pressing massage therapy on neurodevelopment in children with delayed motor development at very early stage.

Background: Particular factors before and after delivery can cause neurological damage to the fetus or newborn. Rougan Tongdu Tuina combined with point-pressing massage therapy (RTPM) can effectively stimulate the meridians and acupoints, and achieve the therapeutic effects of refreshing, resuscitating, and strengthening the brain and improving cognition. In this study, RTPM was used in the neonatal period, and quality evaluation results of general movements (GMs) were used to monitor the effect of this method on neurodevelopmental outcomes of children.

Methods: Children who were born in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from 1 March 2017 to 29 February 2020 were retrospectively enrolled. All newborns were assessed for the quality of GMs. Children in the RTPM group received RTPM, and the control group received conventional massage and point-pressing. A 20-day period constituted a round of treatment, each round was 20 days apart, and there were 3 rounds in total. The study participants received regular outpatient follow-ups, and clinical neurological examinations and Gesell development scales (GDS) assessment results were used to determine the outcome of motor development.

Results: A total of 96 newborns with abnormal GMs were retrospectively included, including 57 (59.4%) males and 39 (40.6%) females. There were 83 cases (86.5%) of premature infants and 85 cases (88.5%) of low birthweight infants, respectively. The Apgar score at 1 min after birth was rated 3-10 points, with an average of 7.4 points. The evaluation of GMs revealed that the indicators in the RTPM group were significantly better than those in the control group, and the number of children with abnormal GMs after each round of treatment was significantly reduced compared with the control group. At 6 months, the GDS score of the RTPM group was better than that in the control group. After the intervention, the total effective rate of the RTPM group was 92.2%, which was significantly higher than the 75.6% of the control group (P<0.05).

Conclusions: The application of RTPM in the neonatal period can significantly improve the neurodevelopment of children.