Krivosheya in infants: how to help your child

Orthopedic problems appear not only in adults - they often give birth to themselves. Infants sometimes have a defect like muscular torticollis. The head of the child in this case is forced inclined to the side.

The thoracic-clavicular-mastoid muscle is responsible for the inclination of the head to the right and left, for raising and lowering, for keeping in an upright position. In the case of defects in functioning, this rigidly fixed incorrect inclination does not allow the head to turn, and in severe forms of lesion there is deformation of the face, curvature of the neck, there is an asymmetry of the shoulders, then an s-shaped scoliosis of the spine and ultimately - disability.

If you do not recognize and do not conduct timely treatment of torticollis in infants, then the rapid progression of the disease in a short time will significantly worsen the health of children.

Causes

Defect manifests itself in infants for several reasons:

1. During the fetation of the fetus, his head was pressed inside the uterus to its walls, strongly pressing on the muscles, causing the neck to assume a forced position. The muscle, which suffers from curvature, undergoes changes in its structure even before birth.
2. The thoracic-clavicular-mastoid muscle becomes short and degenerates into a fibrous inelastic tendon as a result of inflammation during intrauterine development.
3. In case of birth trauma, the muscle tears or is strongly stretched - in the subsequent in this place a scar is formed, which does not allow the elastic tissue to develop, so the muscles lag behind in growth.
4. Congenital disorders that cause defects in the harmonious development of the sternocleidomastoid muscle.
5. Disturbances in the structure of the spine - deformation of the vertebrae.

Symptoms, at-risk groups

To avoid complications, young parents should know as much as possible about this disease.

Symptoms to which you must pay attention:

1. The child always keeps his head in one position, turns it only in one direction, and in the opposite or at all can not, or with difficulty for a short distance for a short time.
2. The head is always thrown back.
3. A very clear sign is the progressive asymmetry of the face. This can be clearly seen when comparing photographs of different periods of the first year of life of the child. One half of the face begins to warp (the one that is on the side of the torticollis), decrease by compared with healthy, the eye on this half becomes screwed up, and then the case can reach strabismus.
4. The baby's shoulders become asymmetrical, the shoulder belt no longer resembles the letter "T". The head is inclined to one shoulder, and it is turned up to the cheek of the baby.
5. The soft bones of the head are chamfered from the side of the torticollis.
6. In the position on the abdomen, you can see that the skin folds on the legs and under the buttocks are asymmetrical.
7. The growth of the baby's body slows down, teeth do not erupt in time, it reacts poorly to sound stimuli.
8. Standing on the legs, does not rest on the whole foot, but only on the socks.

The risk of forming torticollis increases with the diagnosis of the breech presentation of the fetus. In this case, sipping the fetus behind the head at the time of delivery can cause stretching or muscle rupture. In the period of 5-6 months of age, the cicatrix makes the disease manifest itself especially brightly, so that the parents can already diagnose a developmental defect and without a specialist without consulting a specialist.

Types of torticollis

Depending on the slope of the head, the torticollis is divided into left-handed and right-sided. At the first appearance of the disturbance, the head is fixed in the tilt position to the left, where it is pulled by the damaged muscle or vertebrae, and the chin is pointed to the right; at the second - all on the contrary: a head to the right, and a chin to the left.

On the factors of occurrence, several types of torticollis are distinguished:

1. Myogenic - is caused by defects in the development of muscles.
2. Arthrogenic - create problems with joints, underdevelopment of vertebrae.
3. Neurogenic - is noted in connection with neurological diseases.
4. Osteogenic - occurs as a result of impaired education and bone growth.
5. Dermo-desmogenic - manifested after skin diseases.
6. Traumatic - manifests itself after fractures or dislocations in the cervical spine.

Many types of diseases are rare. For example, the risk of the formation of neurogenic torticollis in a newborn is small: it occurs after the paralysis of the neck muscles as a result of infectious encephalitis, which is rarely noted in infants.

Treatment

Parents whose baby is diagnosed with this condition should not despair. After contacting a doctor, they will receive advice on getting rid of the disease.

The method of healing is as follows:

1. Corrective gymnastics is conducted. It should be performed strictly following the prescription of the doctor, 3 times a day for 15 minutes.
2. Physiotherapy works well for scarring muscle tears, with loss of elasticity, but electrophoresis and warming should be used with caution at such a young age.
3. The child is dressed with special fixing collars, forcing him to hold his head in the correct position. In this case, the shortened muscles gradually stretch.
4. From the age of six months old, the patient is bathed in a bath with the addition of potassium iodide, which is known for dissolving scars in affected tissues.
5. Massage with curvature in infants is first performed by a specialist. After parents learn its basics, the procedure can be done at home on their own.
6. You should refer to an osteopath who will prescribe a course of activities aimed at relieving spasms in the muscles of the neck.
7. The child must sleep properly, so that in the dream the affected muscles continue to stretch. To do this, under his head are pouches of sand, croup, to fix in the desired position and neck, and the head, and the affected shoulder. Orthopedic pillow for newborns also becomes an indispensable attribute in the treatment of torticollis.
8. At the time of wakefulness, it is recommended that the child be placed face to face with a healthy barrel. This situation, when he does not see anything, makes the baby try to turn his head towards the mother's voice. If he is lying on his back, then on the sore side you need to put bright toys to the baby trying to turn around, to see them.

If parents have a question about how to treat left-sided torticollis in infants, it should be noted that all of the above methods are suitable for eliminating developmental defects from both the right and left sides neck.

It is dangerous to wait for clear manifestations of the disease, because the baby during this period begins to quickly fall behind in both mental and physical terms. Get the doctor's advice on how to treat torticollis in the baby, in the early stages of the disease, so that later you do not have to eliminate physical and cosmetic defects surgically.