The incidence of torticollis is as high as 16% in a normal newborn population. Torticollis is vastly underreported in infants with positional plagiocephaly. Early identification of torticollis and referral to early intervention services by a physical therapist could result in complete correction of torticollis and positional plagiocephaly and prevent the need for cranial orthoses or surgery.
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The term torticollis refers to the postural positioning that occurs when the head is twisted and turned to one side. Prenatally acquired congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) is the most common type of torticollis and is due to asymmetric length and/or strength of the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles on each side of the neck. Congenital muscular torticollis is believed to be due to fetal head descent or abnormal intrauterine fetal positioning during the third trimester, resulting in trauma to the SCM muscle and occasional associated deformations of...
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