The effects of vestibular stimulation rate and magnitude of acceleration on central pattern generation for chest wall kinematics in preterm infants

Objective:to examine the role of vestibular inputs on respiratory and oromotor systems in healthy preterm infants.study design:a total of 27 preterm infants were quasi-randomly assigned to either the vestibuglide treatment or control groups. vestibuglide infants were held in a developmentally supportive position, given a pacifier and received a series of vestibular stimuli, counterbalanced across rate and acceleration conditions, 15 min 3 times per day for 10 days. the control infants were also held in a developmentally supportive position, given a pacifier for 15 min 3 times per day for 10 days but did not receive the vestibuglide stimulation.result:a multi-level regression model revealed that treatment infants increased their respiratory rate in response to vestibular stimulus, and that the highest level of vestibular acceleration delivered to the infants (0.51 ms−2) resulted in a significant increase in breaths per minute.conclusion:vestibular stimulation delivered to preterm infants before scheduled feeds effectively modulates respiratory rate and resets the respiratory central pattern generator.