Congenital torticollis is an alteration that causes the baby to be born with the neck turned to one side and have some limitation of movement with the neck.
It is curable, but should be treated daily with physical therapy and osteopathy and surgery is only indicated in cases where the child has not improved a year.
- Treatment of congenital torticollis consists of physiotherapy and osteopathy.
- But it is critical that the baby’s parents or caregivers know how to do certain exercises at home to complete and improve treatment.
The mother should always be careful to breastfeed by forcing the baby to turn the neck, in order to release the joint and decrease the contracture of the affected muscle. It is recommended to remove milk from the other breast with the milk extractor to avoid the risk of obstruction and there may be a difference in breast size in the future.
Parents should also leave the baby with their head with the affected side towards a smooth wall, so that the noise, luminous stimuli and other things of interest to the child force him to turn to the other side and thus stretch the affected muscle.
The baby’s physical therapist should teach the mother exercises to stretch and relax the affected muscle for her to do at home, to complete the treatment. Some good exercises are:
Using warm water bags or hot towels before exercise is critical to facilitating neck mobilization and reducing the risk of pain.
If the baby starts crying because he can’t look at the affected side, don’t insist, try again later, little by little.
It is important not to cause pain or force too much muscle so that there is no rebound effect and the condition worsens.