Is the child's head tilted due to torticollis? Parents should observe these characteristics

Careful parents will find that their children often have their heads tilted no matter what they are doing. If the head tilt is more serious, there are two factors to consider. The first is the physiological reason, which is mostly caused by bad posture and habits. The second is the pathological factor, which is that the child suffers from torticollis. Torticollis patients usually have lumps in the neck, pain and redness in the neck. Parents need to determine whether there are symptoms. If they are obvious, they need to go to the hospital for examination in time.

Most scholars believe that torticollis is related to injury, such as breech birth and malposition of the fetus, compression of the sternocleidomastoid muscle in the neck, ischemia of blood vessels, blockage of the arterial lumen of the sternocleidomastoid muscle on the affected side, resulting in muscle dysplasia, or muscle edema and inflammation causing muscle cell degeneration and fibrosis, which are eventually replaced by connective tissue and cause contracture. Children with torticollis often have complications such as clubfoot and hip dislocation, so there is a theory that it is a congenital factor. If torticollis is not treated promptly, the deformity will become more obvious as age increases. Diagnosing torticollis is usually not difficult. After birth, a fusiform mass is found on one side of the neck, which is in the same direction as the sternocleidomastoid muscle. A few months later, the first symptoms were head and face deformities and tension in the neck.

The symptoms of torticollis include torticollis deformity, neck mass, facial deformity, etc. Please see the details:

1. Torticollis

After the baby is born, the mother may find that the baby's head tilts to the affected side, the face rotates to the healthy side, and the lower jaw points to the healthy shoulder. After 2 to 3 weeks, torticollis may occur.

The deformity is more pronounced, and turning the head to the healthy side is significantly limited. Those with mild symptoms need careful observation to discover that the symptoms will become increasingly severe as the child grows and develops.

2. Neck lumps

Generally, a neck mass can be felt after birth or within 2 weeks after birth. It is located in the middle and lower part of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. In cases where it occurs on the right side, the mass is often fusiform and non-tender. It usually reaches its maximum size after 1 to 2 months, and then gradually shrinks until it disappears completely. In some of these children, the lump does not disappear and muscle fibrosis and contracture may occur, leading to torticollis deformity.

3. Facial deformity

If congenital muscular torticollis is not effectively treated in the early stage, facial deformities will appear after the age of 2, mainly manifested by facial asymmetry, asymmetric distances from the outer corners of the eyes to the corners of the mouth, shortened distance on the affected side, longer distance on the healthy side, and lowered plane of the eye position on the affected side. Because the two eyes are not on the same horizontal line, visual fatigue and decreased vision are likely to occur. The facial area on the healthy side is round and full, while that on the affected side is narrow and flat. Compensatory scoliosis may occur in the cervical spine. In addition, the child's entire face, including the nose and ears, may also show asymmetric changes.