[Source:  St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

By Michele Munz
Reaching through two holes in the clear walls of the incubator, St. Louis Children’s Hospital physical therapist Kelly Burgio gently pushed down the shoulder of 3-week-old Preston Jolly, born more than 10 weeks early.
She explained to the baby’s mother, April Jolly, that premature babies often hold their shoulders up to their ears. “This just gives the baby that kind of rounded posture,” said Burgio, while teaching Mom how to do the stretch.
Jolly, 32, of St. Louis, noted how calm her baby was. “He usually doesn’t like it when I try to wash his neck or anything like that,” she said.
The importance of physical therapy for babies who arrive weeks before they are supposed to is becoming apparent as researchers learn more about this critical period of development when they were supposed to be in the womb, and what these especially sensitive infants can handle.
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