Physio said 7 month old has normal-low muscle tone - what does this mean!?

[pinkskies110]

Hi all - wondering if some of you can help.

My little girl is 7 months old. She is doing well developmentally but has been a bit slow on gross motor skills. She still isn't sitting up, only for a few seconds and when she does she sits with the legs straight out - not bent like most babies. It looks so uncomfortable!

We saw an NHS physio yesterday who examined her. She said my LG has normal muscle tone but a bit on the low side. Has anyone else had this? Is this classed as hypotonia? i.e. does it have to be abnormally low for it to be hypotonia? How common do you think this is?

I'm really worried as from what I understand hypotonia can be a symptom of a genetic condition..But is normal tone on the low side the same thing?

Also, can anyone shed any light on what normal-low tone might look like in child as they get older? What kind of difficulties do thy usually face?

Thanks for your help.

A worried mum. x

Bump

Muscle tone can be quite a spectrum. For example both my sons have had higher muscle tone but still in the realm of “normal”. I on the other hand have slightly low muscle tone and hypermobile joints but the muscle tone has never caused issues (although was a later walker and not great at sport) so hasn’t been deemed a concern. If your daughter is meeting all other milestones I wouldn’t worry. Lots of children have slightly low muscle tone with no concerning cause.

@Foreverbaffled thanks so much for responding x