Torticollis & Positional Plagiocephaly… What I Wish I Knew

Torticollis & Positional Plagiocephaly…

What I Wish I Knew

By Heidi (mother of Evan), Fremont

When Evan was born it was like an angel had been placed into my arms. When we brought him home we were careful to put him to sleep on his back as recommended by our pediatrician, and we did our best to protect him from his over-adoring sister by putting him in the bouncy seat to play. We thought it somewhat odd that he didn’t really like to be held, nor did he enjoy the Baby Bjorn carrier, but he was mostly content to sit and watch our daughter’s silly antics and peacefully went along with our busy routine.

We did notice that he liked to look to the right, and also noticed that he was developing a little flat spot on the back right side of his head. My pediatrician told us time and again that it would round out on its own, and to vary his sleeping position. It wasn’t until Evan was over 6 months old that a friend mentioned that she had met someone whose child had torticollis, and wondered if we had heard of that. I immediately went online and learned everything I could about torticollis, determined this was indeed what Evan had, and called my pediatrician in the morning.

Torticollis is the shortening of the Sternocleidomastoid muscle, the big muscle that goes from the base of the ear to the collarbone, caused by constriction in the womb or a forceful delivery. The shortened or torn muscle causes the child to look in the direction of the shortened muscle, for Evan over his right shoulder. Without physical therapy it can cause permanent alignment and postural challenges.

(Continued above right)

Hand in hand with torticollis is positional plagiocephaly, or a flattened head caused by constant external pressure on one side of the head. Positional plagiocephaly is not always caused by torticollis, and with early diagnosis can be corrected using repositioning techniques. If these techniques don’t provide improvement in the child’s head shape, a helmet may be required to redirect the growth of the cranial bones.

A helmet is most effective between 7 and 9 months, when there is a period of rapid head growth. A child does 80% of his or her cranial growth before the age of 12 months. Unfortunately for Evan, we did not get an early diagnosis and therefore didn’t start repositioning until he was close to 8 months old. And since we didn’t get a referral to see a craniofacial specialist until he was 9 months old, it wasn’t until he was a year old (after I’d done a LOT more research online) that I requested a prescription for a helmet.

Evan received his helmet at 13½ months. I’m hoping to see some change in his head shape and improvement in his (almost gone) torticollis. Hopefully the improvement we see will be enough to help prevent the TMJ, migraines, jaw alignment, and visual problems that are potentially associated with untreated plagiocephaly.

Since the Back to Sleep campaign started in 1992 there has been a dramatic drop in SIDS, and a significant increase in plagiocephaly. If you notice your child is tipping his or her head to their shoulder or looking one way more than the other, or if you notice your child’s head isn’t the perfectly symmetrical shape it was at birth, talk to your pediatrician about it.

For more information, visit:

www.plagiocephaly.org

www.torticolliskids.org

www.cappskids.org

To see the American Academy of Pediatrics’ statement of policy and treatment on positional plagiocephaly, click:

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/
pediatrics;112/1/199.pdf

This article was originally published as the cover story in the Summer 2004 issue of the Tiny Tots Gazette, a publication of Tiny Tots Diaper Service and Baby Boutique located in Campbell, CA - Used with permission

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