Torticollis in an eight-month-old baby
Case complexity
- 8 months
- Patient age, too young to stay still for needling
- 4 months
- Since the head tilt was first noticed
- 3 areas
- Muscle findings in the neck, along the spine and around the buttocks
Outcome
After one month of combined treatment, the muscles were noticeably more relaxed. The baby held their head straighter and no longer consistently veered to one side when crawling.
Read full case report
- Presentation
- An eight-month-old baby was referred to me by the hospital’s pediatric orthopedics department for torticollis, a persistent head tilt. The family had first noticed it at four months. The baby had been receiving physical therapy in the UK, but treatment was interrupted when the family relocated at seven months.
- Examination
- The neck muscles had uneven tension, with tightness and contracture on the right. The baby also showed marked discomfort when I pressed the muscles alongside the spine and around the buttocks.
- Treatment
- I treated the baby twice a week with acupuncture and hands-on therapy, alongside physical therapy rehabilitation exercises. Because the baby was too young to stay still, I used brief cheek acupuncture without retaining the needles, followed by small press needles left in place until the next day.
