Plagiocephaly and Torticollis
Blain Bell
Health
Blain Bell
Coach Dennis
Health
19 January 2014
Plagiocephaly and Torticollis
It seems not many people have ever heard of plagiocephaly or torticollis. Well I have, actually I have experienced them both with my youngest brother, Blaiz. Blaiz has a twin sister, Blair. She was the main cause of these problems. Plagiocephaly and torticollis are more commonly found in multiples. It occurs while the mom is still pregnant due to the lack of space. These cases are hard to prevent. In other cases it is caused after the baby is born. Hopefully by spreading the information we can limit the number of those cases.
Torticollis means ‘twisted neck’ and is caused by damage to a muscle in the baby’s neck. While a mom is pregnant with multiples lack of spacing is extremely common. This can cause the babies to be positioned in a certain way for an uncontrollable amount of time. This may result in less movement so the baby’s muscles basically get stuck. Preventing this from happening is not really possible. The cases that occur after the baby is born is preventable. Moving a baby helps keep their muscles active and stretched. It is important to do so. Stretch the baby’s muscles and move them around. Staying in a crib, swing, or car seat for extended periods of time can be detrimental to their muscles. If a baby does have torticollis the treatments are simple. Get those muscles moving! Physical activity is the best treatment. When Blaiz was a baby suffering from this in the left side of his neck we had to do everything on his right side. When I played with my little brother it was always on his right side. While feeding him it was on his right. He was always positioned so his twin was to his right. Talking to him was once again on the right side. This would force him to work those tightened muscles on the left. If we stayed on the left the muscles would never get...