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A team of researchers with Imperial College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital, both in the U.K., has found that monitoring fetal movements in pregnant women can help in detecting fetal musculoskeletal malformations.
A kicking baby is one of the milestones of a healthy pregnancy, but as the researchers note, few investigations have been conducted into what actually occurs in the womb as the fetus grows and begins moving around.
Researchers analyzed MRI scans from patients which allowed them to create models of fetal movement. The models produced animated representations of a fetus inside the uterus as it stretched, kicked and moved in other ways, allowing the team to track how much force the fetus was exerting on its environment.
They found that a fetus is able to exert up to 4 kilograms of force against the walls of the uterus at around 30 weeks, the peak time for fetal activity. After that, fetal force was reduced as the fetus found itself with less room to maneuver due to its increasing size.
The team also found that kicking was a form of exercise, helping the growing fetus develop proper muscle and bone structures. They also found that even after the fetus had reduced room for movement, fetal kicking was still important because the stress helped leg and arm joints to develop properly.
The researchers report that fetal movement is critical for normal development of bones and joints. These last findings proved to be particularly useful, the team notes, because a lack of movement, whether kicking or otherwise, could predict musculoskeletal malformations after birth.
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