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Hypotonia involves decreased muscle tone. Infants with hypotonia seem floppy and feel like a "rag doll" does when held.
Hypotonia is often a sign of a worrisome abnormality and may suggest the presence of central nervous system dysfunction, genetic disorders, or muscle disorders.
Hypotonic infants rest with their elbows and knees loosely extended, while infants with normal tone tend to have flexed elbows and knees. Head control may be poor or absent in the floppy infant with the head falling to the side, backward, or forward.
Infants with normal tone can be lifted with the parent's hands placed under the armpits, while hypotonic infants tend to slip between the hands as the infant's arms rise unresistingly upward.
Yeh PC, Kipp MA. A case of Moebius syndrome in association with Klinefelter syndrome. Ophthalmic Genet . 2002 Sep;23(3):185-9.
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