Use of Exersaucers and Chiro's for Tort (sorry so long)

[Guest guest]

Hi all!

My name is Lori and some of you probably already know me... but for

those who don't - my daughter is (Lexi) is 27 months and has

resolved Torticollis and positional plagio, both caused inutero and

from the tort (I was lucky - very lucky that the plagio self

corrected with positioning). Anyway, I've been with the torticollis

group since it's inception 18 months ago. I haven't been reading

here really faithfully lately (sorry) but I noticed tonight that

there was lots of talk about why or why not to use an exersaucer...

and on the use of chiro.

My opinion on the reason that we've seen such a rapid increase in the

number of cases of torticollis and pp is that we live in an age of

convienience. We have lots of really cool, colorful, educational and

helpful devices to put our little people in AND at the same time -

we've started putting our kids to sleep on their backs. Our parents

lugged us around on their hip and our necks got stretched out every

time we napped and, for an infant, that it when they are doing their

growing! I'm not saying that all tort/and or plagio would be

eliminated... but we wouldn't have the epidemic we now have.

So, this leads me to why we want to limit the time spent in the

devices. Babies need time on their tummy to develop their upper back

and neck muscles. When those muscles aren't properly developed or

injured, as is the case with torticollis - they aren't prepared to

hold the child's head up properly and we can exacerbate the problem

if they stay in those positions for extended periods of time.

Realistically, we know that we all use these things and we all will.

No one expects us to be super moms. Our lives don't allow us the

time our mothers had to " hold " our babies. We just want everyone to

be aware of the amount of time their child, especially those with

torticollis because their neck muscles aren't properly healed, spends

in the devices like car seats, bouncy seats and exersaucer/walkers.

Some time will definitely help with the development of leg muscles.

Like anything else, you have to weigh the pro's and con's. Older

children are stronger and when they are near the stage of walking -

the exersaucer is probably fine. By that time the neck muscles

should be pretty stretched already and you should be on to

strengthening!

The ny Jumper is extremely hard on the neck of a child with tort

and they really should be avoided. For those of you who have

them.... watch the position your child assumes in the johhny jumper.

Their alignment is way out of whack. It is nearly impossible to keep

them in midline - and why waste all the hard work you do with

stretching?

About Chiropractic for treatment - WE DID IT! I don't think it can

totally replace PT because the neck muscle have to be stretched and

strengthened, but I can tell you from experience that chiro can

loosen them up a great deal and allow the PT to work the muscles

harder. Chiro also helped my daughter to keep her shoulders level

and distribute her weight evenly between her hips.

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. I hope this

message doesn't come across as preachy - I'm just trying to shed more

light on why we've come to the conclusions we have based on what

we've learned from the books, websites and our therapists!

If anyone has any questions... please throw them out and I'll try to

answer if I can!! I'm always available if anyone wants any tort info!

Thanks for letting me chime in!!!

You guys are always sooooooooooo nice to me!

Lori (mother to Miss Lexi)

Milwaukee

[Guest guest]

Lori,

I was hoping and waiting for you to jump in. Thanks!

Sue (Mom to Connor & Riley - Graduates DOC tomorrow!!!)

Phoenix, AZ

> Hi all!

>

> My name is Lori and some of you probably already know me... but for

> those who don't - my daughter is (Lexi) is 27 months and has

> resolved Torticollis and positional plagio, both caused inutero and

> from the tort (I was lucky - very lucky that the plagio self

> corrected with positioning). Anyway, I've been with the

torticollis

> group since it's inception 18 months ago. I haven't been reading

> here really faithfully lately (sorry) but I noticed tonight that

> there was lots of talk about why or why not to use an exersaucer...

> and on the use of chiro.

>

> My opinion on the reason that we've seen such a rapid increase in

the

> number of cases of torticollis and pp is that we live in an age of

> convienience. We have lots of really cool, colorful, educational

and

> helpful devices to put our little people in AND at the same time -

> we've started putting our kids to sleep on their backs. Our

parents

> lugged us around on their hip and our necks got stretched out every

> time we napped and, for an infant, that it when they are doing

their

> growing! I'm not saying that all tort/and or plagio would be

> eliminated... but we wouldn't have the epidemic we now have.

>

> So, this leads me to why we want to limit the time spent in the

> devices. Babies need time on their tummy to develop their upper

back

> and neck muscles. When those muscles aren't properly developed or

> injured, as is the case with torticollis - they aren't prepared to

> hold the child's head up properly and we can exacerbate the problem

> if they stay in those positions for extended periods of time.

> Realistically, we know that we all use these things and we all

will.

> No one expects us to be super moms. Our lives don't allow us the

> time our mothers had to " hold " our babies. We just want everyone

to

> be aware of the amount of time their child, especially those with

> torticollis because their neck muscles aren't properly healed,

spends

> in the devices like car seats, bouncy seats and

exersaucer/walkers.

> Some time will definitely help with the development of leg

muscles.

> Like anything else, you have to weigh the pro's and con's. Older

> children are stronger and when they are near the stage of walking -

> the exersaucer is probably fine. By that time the neck muscles

> should be pretty stretched already and you should be on to

> strengthening!

>

> The ny Jumper is extremely hard on the neck of a child with

tort

> and they really should be avoided. For those of you who have

> them.... watch the position your child assumes in the johhny

jumper.

> Their alignment is way out of whack. It is nearly impossible to

keep

> them in midline - and why waste all the hard work you do with

> stretching?

>

> About Chiropractic for treatment - WE DID IT! I don't think it can

> totally replace PT because the neck muscle have to be stretched and

> strengthened, but I can tell you from experience that chiro can

> loosen them up a great deal and allow the PT to work the muscles

> harder. Chiro also helped my daughter to keep her shoulders level

> and distribute her weight evenly between her hips.

>

> I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. I hope this

> message doesn't come across as preachy - I'm just trying to shed

more

> light on why we've come to the conclusions we have based on what

> we've learned from the books, websites and our therapists!

>

> If anyone has any questions... please throw them out and I'll try

to

> answer if I can!! I'm always available if anyone wants any tort

info!

>

> Thanks for letting me chime in!!!

>

> You guys are always sooooooooooo nice to me!

>

> Lori (mother to Miss Lexi)

> Milwaukee