Infants under the age of 2 receive a torticollis diagnosis more often than any other age group. Children born with this condition, typically due to positioning in the womb or a difficult birth, have congenital muscular torticollis (also known as infant torticollis). Even though the condition is considered congenital, it may still take up to three months for an infant to develop torticollis. Thankfully, most infants feel no pain with this condition. What’s more, the condition typically improves with time, especially if parents help their children perform prescribed stretching exercises.
Causes
Acquired torticollis doesn’t occur suddenly; it usually starts as slight neck pain that worsens until one wakes unable to move his or her neck. Some contributing factors to its development include trauma, tumors, or an existing condition such as Grisel’s syndrome, which can lead to acquired torticollis.
What are Common Symptoms of Torticollis in Children?
The most common symptom of torticollis is the rotation of the head to one side, and rotation of the chin to the opposite side. Other symptoms include discomfort and pain, decreased neck range of motion, tight neck muscles, and difficulty breastfeeding on one side. Chronic torticollis in infants can result in the flattening of one side of the head (plagiocephaly) due to consistent sleeping positions when lying on their backs. In serious congenital cases, face asymmetry, hearing difficulty, vision problems, and developmental delays can occur.
How can Chiropractic Help Children with Torticollis?
Torticollis chiropractic adjustment is a natural, gentle, safe, and effective method to correcting misalignment in the neck region. Such misalignment can lead to muscle imbalance, causing one side of the neck muscles to become contracted over time and even other developmental issue due to the impact on the nervous system. Chiropractic management is directed at reducing cervical spine subluxations, which are commonly present in this condition. Chiropractors use a combination of spinal adjustments, cranial realignment, and soft tissue therapies. These can produce a rapid solution in many cases of torticollis in an infant.
A common case of torticollis can be treated in 3 or 4 chiropractic sessions. Regular chiropractic treatments help patients avoid developing conditions like it.
Other torticollis treatments include physical therapy and osteopathy. Deep tissue massage may also provide pain relief. Other alternative treatments include acupuncture and acupressure, which provide pain relief and stop muscle spasms.
Regular chiropractic treatments help patients avoid developing conditions like torticollis. An ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure.
