Coordination and balance are manifested as motor skills or abilities that are acquired as the Central Nervous System develops. In the infant stage, these qualities help guide specialists to recognize possible abnormalities that at first glance seem banal, but that, as time goes by, acquire greater difficulty, causing even more complex problems in the long term. Craniosacral therapy could help these skills to be correctly established during growth, correcting such impairment in time during neurodevelopment. Objective: To correct possible alterations that occur during infant growth related to balance and coordination in neurodevelopment, by means of craniosacral therapy compared with the specific therapy of balance and coordination usually used in pathologies diagnosed of this caliber. Design: Longitudinal-experimental study with a population of 86 apparently healthy children. Setting/Participants: 86 children were treated without excluding sex and divided into three groups: placebo group (n=25), craniosacral therapy group (n=30) and balance and coordination therapy group (n=31). Interventions: group 1 (placebo), group 2 (craniosacral therapy) group 3 (balance and coordination therapy). Results: The Battelle scale prior to the therapies developed in the study showed balance and coordination imbalances in the participants of the three groups, with lower percentages in the placebo treatment. Sessions from the 2nd to the 7th of treatment show increasing percentages and fluctuating for craniosacral therapy between 51% to 56% and 100% satisfaction, significantly valued. As for balance and coordination therapy, satisfaction percentages are evident only in the 6th and 7th sessions, with statistically significant values. Finally, the Battelle post-therapy assessment scale shows a higher number of participants in the percentages classified as normal (50-80%) in the craniosacral therapy group, improving the evaluated parameters with statistically significant values. Conclusion: The study shows that craniosacral therapy can not only act as a treatment for the improvement of children's balance and coordination, but also helps small corrections during children's neurodevelopment, avoiding the evolution of pathologies in the long term. It is therefore necessary for a more prompt, total and lasting correction of these skills in the infant.

Design:

A longitudinal-experimental study was carried out with a child population of 86 children aged 6 to 8 years old without excluding sex in a school group in Cordoba (Spain).

Participants:

Eighty-six apparently healthy children between 6 and 8 years of age were treated as prevention in balance and coordination motor skills at the Gema León physiotherapy clinic in Córdoba (Spain). The children were divided into three groups: 25 patients in the placebo group (group 1), 30 patients in the craniosacral therapy group (group 2) and 31 patients in the balance and coordination therapy group (group 3).

Primary outcome: A series of questions were asked to the children's parents in a virtual questionnaire on physical characteristics, previous health assessments and observations of their balance and coordination in front of their children. On the other hand, the school teachers examined neurobehavioral aspects of the students using the "Battelle Developmental Inventory" (BDI), which evaluates five areas of development (personal/social, adaptive, motor, communicative and cognitive) between 2 and 8 years of age. The results are assigned in age-adjusted percentages, classified as: low (0-49%), normal (50-79%) and high (80-100%). Low and high values are considered impairments in one or more of the areas evaluated.

Secondary outcome: Seven treatment sessions were carried out with the balance and coordination therapeutic exercise techniques (group 3) most frequently used for the treatment of these pathologies; seven sessions of craniosacral therapy (group 2) as corrective and preventive in possible alterations during infant neurodevelopment and finally seven sessions simulating craniosacral therapy on a placebo group (group 1) as a control of the treatments used.

The effectiveness values of the therapies were expressed as percentages of satisfaction with the classifications of 25 to 28% (apparent changes < to half of the sample in each therapy group), 51 to 56% (apparent changes in half of the sample in each therapy group) and 100% (apparent changes > to half of the sample in each therapy group). From the above, the absolute values of the sample in each therapy group are set as follows.

Data analysis:

The variables were expressed as mean, absolute and relative frequency. The chi-square test was used to analyze the differences between age ranges, balance and coordination problems versus physical therapy sessions performed, as well as the association between values of the Battelle scale of child neurodevelopment before and after the treatments. A confidence level of 95% was established, considering as statistically significant a value of p a value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Inclusion Criteria:

• healthy children
• aged 6 to 8 years old
• school group

Exclusion Criteria:

• unhealthy children
• ages outside the 6-8 age range

The request for the data will be studied and considered upon prior and justified request.

Patients will not know whether they will be treated or given a placebo.