Torticollis

Torticollis is caused by tightness of one side of your child’s neck muscle; the sternocleoidmastoid.  You may notice that your child tilts their head to one side and turn their face in the opposite direction. It can be caused by changes in the muscle itself or they may have developed a ‘flat spot’ or flat area (plagiocephaly) at the back of their head which makes it hard for them to re-position their head. Torticollis can make breastfeeding on one side challenging and you will notice it more as they get tired if supported upright.

How can we help?
Most likely you have tried encouraging your baby to look in the other direction and set up their environment to facilitate this. We will teach you specific stretches and exercises that promote muscle lengthening, improve their vestibular and visual input, and improve muscle strength to ensure improvements. We will also advise you on how to prevent changes to the shape of your baby’s head or provide treatment strategies to manage this if flattening is already occurring.  The earlier treatment is started the easier it is to stretch the muscle, correct the position of the head, encourage normal development and best of all this will result in your baby needing fewer treatments.

You may have tried osteopathy or chiropractic treatment already. Unless they are treating the muscle imbalance, teaching your baby how to move correctly, and helping them meet their milestones, correcting their alignment will only last for a short time and you won’t achieve skull changes nor prevent asymmetrical motor development. You will also be spending a lot of money on this whilst developmental therapy will give you “better bang for your buck”, save you time going to multiple appointments AND actually change what’s important to you… your baby’s torticollis and head shape.