Self Regulated Physical Activity and Bone Growth Enhancement in Premature Infants

the prepod is either a 4 way stretch polyester blend fleece with 8 to 10% lycra, or a 95%cotton5% lycra blend knit. It comes in 4 different sizes to assure a pod that has a conforming but not restricting fit so that the infant is free to stretch in any direction at any time but is loosely held in a position of physiological flexion (the fetal position) when not stretching.

Each premature infant enrolled as a control subject received approximately 10 minutes of joint compression exercises provided by a NICU trained physical or occupational therapist 5x a week. The exercises consisted of waking the infant slowly, gently if necessary just before feeding with a simple range of motion stretching program then stabilizing an extremity and applying force distally to proximally for 6 repetitions with a brief pause between each compression.