Monday, January 18, 2010

Torticollis and Positional Plagiocephaly

Cora has been Dx with Torticollis and Positional Plagiocephaly - basically her head tilts to one side due to a short neck muscle. Well, because of the tilt - she also has a mis-shappen head on that side (plagiocephaly).

The short and tight muscles is probably due to her position in the womb. But, since it was like this since birth (you can see it in early pics), she could have also developed a "habit" of tilting her head. So, part is because her head just goes that way, and then part is she just gets in the habit of keeping it that way, and then doesn't like to move it the other way.

Because of the fact that she could be developing a habit, it is best to try to correct it as early as possible.

She has started PT this week. The PT can not tell me how long she will be in therapy, since every kid is different. She also gave us a lot of exercises to do at home, most are incorporated into playtime - making sure that we put toys on the other side of her tilt.

But, my doc has not said anything about the flat head. I have heard people tell me to go out on my own and see a doc for the flatness. I know my insurance does not require a referral - so I will probably do this

If you child has torticollis, can you please let me know your experiences (PT, DOC band, etc)

I am trying not to freak out about it - and I think I am doing a good job of not googling too much :) The PT said it is not too big of a deal, and neither did the doc.

So, for now, we are doing PT 2x a week. And, I will also call Early Intervention as well

4 comments:

Leah said...

Awwww...sweet baby girl. I'm glad that you got a diagnosis and that it is fixable! The PT we saw says that babies with these problems respond very well to therapy and the problem is usually fixed quickly. Good job on not freaking out too much! And for staying away from google. I'll let you know what our doc says after BB's next appt.

Maria (MKC101103) said...

EJ didn't have any sort of dx like Cora has, but one side of his head was even flatter than hers...but he didn't tilt his head. EJ always slept on the right side. Even if we put him down on his left, he always rolled to his right. This started getting better when he spent more time sitting/crawling than he did lying on his back (he HATED tummy time).

He just turned a year and I think I can finally say his head is just about equally rounded again. We had him checked by early intervention and they said as long as it didn't get any worse to keep an eye on it to be sure it started rounding out, which it did.

I'm sure PT will be great for Cora and I bet as soon as her neck muscles even out the pressure will be even and in a few months time she'll have a lovely round little head :)

Unknown said...

Don't know if you've ever considered Chiropractic, but my son favored one side and every few months I have him "adjusted" during my visit. My Chiro uses the Activator method and so there is no popping or cracking, she just sways his legs and touches really lightly behind his ears. I noticed a huge improvement right away. It may be a good compliment to the PT. I know there are many who don't belive in it, but thought I'd offer my opinion as a newly reformed "natural health" gal. ;-) Also, my nephew had Plagiocephaly and wore a helmet for a few months and you cannot tell he had a mishapen head at all today. I do know there is a max age for this procedure though, so I think getting a 2nd consult is not a bad decision at all. Good luck with everything...you seem really on the ball and even keel.

SmartAssMom said...

My daughter also had torticollis and received PT for about 8 months for it. Her head was also quite flat, although the specialists we saw didn't recommend the DOC band - they felt it may speed up the rounding of her head, but that was it. She was also almost 6 months by the time we made it through all the specialists.
My daughter didn't have the obvious tilt of torticollis, but the PT and neurologist both saw she had it right away. She responded well to PT, although slowly, and became totally mobile and didn't show any stiffness on the side with the tort by the time we were done. For a baby that was totally immobile at 6 months (not rolling, etc), by 13 months she was walking well and hitting all of her milestones appropriately.
She's almost 18 months and her head is still rather flat, but nowhere near what it was. No one notices a thing since hair really does make a difference! She probably won't want to shave her head in the future, but other than that she's great.

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