Re: Sydney

[Guest guest]

,

That is great news that the consensus says no helmet needed for Sydney!

yeah! My son was dx with tort at 2 months and we were in professional pt

until 10 months old. We still occassionally see a tilt when sick or tired, (

a lot last week after a bout with tonsilitis, but ok for now), but a great

" righting " or strengthening exercise is to have the child sit on your lap,

facing the tv is good to keep them entertained. Tilt the child towards the

tort side, and the non-tort muscle should work at keeping the head midline.

We do this for both sides and make it a game. The body has a natural

tendency to keep the head in a midline position, as opposed to sideways, and

they will use that opposite muscle to help stay at midline. They get lazy,

and don't always pull up, or if the muscle is still too tight, they really

can't do it that easily, but continue with this and you will start to see

that opposite muscle toughen up (its basically too weak to pull the head

midline at first). Having the child reach high for things, with both arms

used, is also great exercise and make sure they are using both sides of their

body for these things (hold the right arm when he tries to use it to grab the

toy, make him use the left, etc).

Hang in there, the exercises are a drag and leave you feeling drained, but

you will see great results with your continued efforts- don't give up! I

thought this would never end, and really, it hasn't, because we are still on

top of it and ready to pounce on that tilt with more exercises- most say to

continue being alert until they are 2 when they are completely done with

physical milestones. Good luck, please keep us posted!

' Mom

P.S. WWW.torticolliskids should have lots more tips and

advice on this!