poppy
Mum of Three
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2007
- Messages
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Well, I have just been with Tristan to his physiotherapy appointment. It turns out that I was right and he does have infant torticollus. So there is some benefit to sometimes diagnosing on the internet (the G.P. had not even heard of the condition).
Basically, infant torticollus is a tightening in the neck muscle on one side leading the baby to prefer looking towards one side (this can lead to flat head syndrome if not picked up). This can be caused by: big babies being squashed in the womb, forceps/ventuose delivery, long labours, premature births (due to the skull not being thick enough - apparantely the skull really thickens up the last couple of weeks before birth). Now Tristan was a big baby, born by forceps delivery and had a long birth (nearly 30 hours active labour), so fits in with nearly all this.
To help remedy the condition (apparantely it is relatively simple to treat), you do some stretching exercises and encourage the baby to turn in the other direction. Although this will be hard as the baby will fight it as it feels sore and awkward for him. If the condition has not improved within 8 months they will refer Tristan for a simple operation which loosens up the tightened muscle, but the physio says that this is quite rare and most torticollus patients see an improvement through the exercises. She says as I have brought him in really early, I should see an improvement quite quickly. One of the physiotherapists suffered from torticollus as a child herself and it wasn't diagnosed or treated until she was 12!
I hope Tristan's neck movements improve really soon.
xxx
Basically, infant torticollus is a tightening in the neck muscle on one side leading the baby to prefer looking towards one side (this can lead to flat head syndrome if not picked up). This can be caused by: big babies being squashed in the womb, forceps/ventuose delivery, long labours, premature births (due to the skull not being thick enough - apparantely the skull really thickens up the last couple of weeks before birth). Now Tristan was a big baby, born by forceps delivery and had a long birth (nearly 30 hours active labour), so fits in with nearly all this.
To help remedy the condition (apparantely it is relatively simple to treat), you do some stretching exercises and encourage the baby to turn in the other direction. Although this will be hard as the baby will fight it as it feels sore and awkward for him. If the condition has not improved within 8 months they will refer Tristan for a simple operation which loosens up the tightened muscle, but the physio says that this is quite rare and most torticollus patients see an improvement through the exercises. She says as I have brought him in really early, I should see an improvement quite quickly. One of the physiotherapists suffered from torticollus as a child herself and it wasn't diagnosed or treated until she was 12!
I hope Tristan's neck movements improve really soon.
xxx
Hope it improves with the exercises
