Search
Low Muscle Tone - Hypotonia
A child is said to have low muscle tone — hypotonia — if his muscles are on the loose, floppy side. You may find it unusually easy to move your child's arms and legs when they are relaxed, or that he seems to slip through your arms when you pick him up. Although hypotonia is not a well-understood phenomenon, children with low muscle tone often have delayed motor skills, muscle weakness, and / or coordination problems.
Hypotonic infants, therefore, have a typical "floppy" appearance. They rest with their elbows and knees loosely extended, while infants with normal muscle tone tend to have flexed elbows and knees. Head control is usually poor or absent in the floppy infant with the head falling to the side, backward, or forward. Infants with normal tone can be lifted by placing hands under their armpits, but hypotonic infants tend to slip between the hands as their arms rise unresistingly upward. While most children tend to flex their elbows and knees when resting, hypotonic children hang their arms and legs limply by their sides.
Hypotonia is also characterized by problems with mobility and posture, lethargy, weak ligaments and joints, and poor reflexes.
While low muscle tone in an infant can be caused by a variety of fairly serious problems including hypothyroidism, Down syndrome, or a neurological problem, if your child was not diagnosed with the problem until after his first birthday, his problem is likely to be milder.
In some cases, doctors are unable to identify a cause for a child's hypotonia and it gets better over time without treatment.
The clinical name for this form is benign congenital hypotonia. Interestingly, many children with benign congenital hypotonia will have a parent or sibling who likewise had low muscle tone during their childhood, suggesting a genetic connection.
The clinical name for this form is benign congenital hypotonia. Interestingly, many children with benign congenital hypotonia will have a parent or sibling who likewise had low muscle tone during their childhood, suggesting a genetic connection.
Because your toddler needs to build muscular strength and agility, it's important that he be as active as possible. It doesn't much matter what he does — whether it's swimming, gymnastics, or general running around — as long he does something that gets him going. Pick an activity he likes to do, simply because he's more likely to stick with it if it's fun. Although physical therapy is sometimes recommended for children with low muscle tone, few studies have been done and experts disagree on how effective it is. Mild hypotonia typically improves over time with or without therapy.
Print Article
Send to a friend
Bookmark Article
Save as PDF