Collab Topic - Occupational Therapy | Pinnacle Blooms Network

Torticollis is a stiff neck that makes it hard or painful to turn your head. In older kids and adults, it can happen after sleeping in a funny position. Babies can be born with a stiff neck, but the condition is a little different and not painful.
Symptoms of Infant Torticollis?
Babies with torticollis will act like most other babies except during activities that involve turning their head. When they’re about 2–4 weeks old, a baby with torticollis might:

tilt the head in one direction (this can be hard to notice in very young infants)
not fully turn their head to follow you
if breastfed, have trouble breastfeeding on one side (or prefer one breast only)
work hard to turn toward you

Causes : A multitude of conditions may lead to the development of torticollis including: muscular fibrosis, congenital spine abnormalities, or toxic or traumatic brain injury

Congenital muscular torticollis

Congenital muscular torticollis is the most common torticollis that is present at birth.Congenital muscular torticollis is the third most common congenital musculoskeletal deformity in children.The cause of congenital muscular torticollis is unclear. Birth trauma or intrauterine malposition is considered to be the cause of damage to the sternocleidomastoid muscle in the neck. Other alterations to the muscle tissue arise from repetitive microtrauma within the womb
If your baby does have torticollis, the doctor might teach you neck stretching exercises to practice at home. These help loosen the tight SCM and strengthen the one on the other side, which is looser and weaker due to underuse. This will help to straighten out your baby's neck

Treatment

After treatment starts, the doctor may check your baby every 2–4 weeks to see if the torticollis is getting better.
Encourage your baby to turn the head in both directions. This helps loosen tense neck muscles and tighten the loose ones. Babies cannot hurt themselves by turning their heads on their own.

Here are some exercises to try:

When your baby wants to eat, offer the bottle or breast in a way that encourages your baby to turn away from the favored side.
When putting your baby down to sleep, position them to face the wall. Because babies prefer to look out onto the room, your baby will actively turn away from the wall and this will stretch the tightened muscles of the neck. Remember — always put babies down to sleep on their back to help prevent SIDS.

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