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Home › Articles › Illnesses, Diseases & Disorders › Congenital Muscular Torticollis

Congenital Muscular Torticollis

How Much Do You Know About This Musculoskeletal Anomaly?

By Lisa A. Goldstein

Pages:  1  2  3  

Early Intervention Is Necessary
"If [the head tilt] doesn't resolve as the child becomes more upright in sitting and walking, or if asymmetry is very obvious, then orthopedic consultation can assist with releasing the muscle," Dr. Gaebler-Spira says. "Frequently a cervical spine X-ray is taken to rule out vertebral abnormalities. If a child has a delay in motor development, there is a need to be seen by a neurologist and investigated, since early detection and proper diagnosis is very important."

Indeed, the case of Jackson Markson – who lives outside of Boston – is a good example. He underwent many tests, but it wasn't until an orthopedic doctor discovered the pulled muscle in his neck that they realized why the soft tissues in his face were growing at an uneven rate. A body brace was built to help stretch the neck out, but he was 6 months old and had outgrown it by the time it was completed.

Jackson was very active by the time he was diagnosed, and his parents manually assisted with the stretching exercises. Both of these things helped. As a baby, Jackson's eyes, ears and cheeks were noticeably different sizes. Now that he's 14 years old, some of the effects still remain today – mostly his ears – but his parents don't point them out and others don't notice. "We wish [torticollis] was ruled out first, as the additional time lost addressing it may be the reason it had a more permanent effect," says his mother, Jennifer Markson.

Everett's son also continues to have issues, such as a lazy left eye from the constant tilting and looking at the world from an angle, and there is a possibility of scoliosis later in life. Lasting repercussions such as these only happen in cases where the tilting is severe and the treatment started late, Everett says. "A baby can double his birth size in those first six months, so a relatively small problem at birth becomes a huge, complicated problem in a very short amount of time," she says.


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