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Aim: General movements' assessment (GMA), based on Gestalt perception, identifies infants at risk of cerebral palsy. However, the requirement of ample experience to construct the assessor's inner criteria for abnormal movement hampers its widespread clinical use. This study aims to describe details of general movements (GMs) in various body parts and to investigate their association with GMA‐Gestalt. Methods: Participants were 24 typically developing infants and 22 very‐high‐risk infants. GMs were assessed during the writhing (0‐8 weeks) and/or fidgety GM phase (2‐5 months) by GMA‐Gestalt and a semi‐quantification of the duration of simple movements and complex movements in various body parts. Results: During both GM phases, the quality of movement often varied within a single assessment, but the degree of complexity and variation of movements in trunk, arms and legs were interrelated (ρ = 0.32‐0.84). Longer durations of complex movements in arms and legs (P <.042) were further associated with a better quality in GMA‐Gestalt. Head movement was associated with movements in other body parts only in the writhing phase and not associated with GMA‐Gestalt during both GM phases. Conclusion: Infants did not show consistently over time and across body parts simple or complex movements. Detailed description of movement characteristics may facilitate the development of computer‐based GMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have impaired postural control. Posture is controlled in two levels: direction-specificity, and fine-tuning of direction-specific adjustments, including recruitment order. Literature suggests that direction-specificity might be a prerequisite for independent sitting. Aim To study development of postural adjustments in infants at very high risk for CP (VHR-infants) during developing the ability to sit independently. Method In a longitudinal study surface electromyograms of the neck-, trunk- and arm muscles of 11 VHR-infants and 11 typically developing (TD) infants were recorded during reaching in sitting before and after developing the ability to sit unsupported (median ages: VHR 8.0 and 14.9 months; TD 5.7 and 10.4 months). Sessions were video-recorded. Results In VHR- and TD-infants the prevalence of direction-specific adjustments and recruitment order did not change when the infant learned to sit independently. In VHR-infants able to sit independently more successful reaching was associated with a higher frequency of bottom-up recruitment (Spearman's rho = 0.828, p = 0.006) and a lower frequency of simultaneous recruitment (Spearman's rho = - 0.701, p = 0.035), but not with more direction-specificity. In TD-infants not able to sit independently, more successful reaching was associated with higher rates of direction-specific adjustments at the neck level (Spearman's rho = 0.778, p = 0.014), but not with recruitment order. Conclusions In VHR- and TD-infants postural adjustments during reaching in terms of direction-specificity and recruitment order are not related to development of independent sitting. Postural adjustments are associated with success of reaching, be it in a different way for VHR- and TD-infants. Clinical trial registration number: NTR1428. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]