helmet or cst?

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The Cst therapist we go to ( Upledger training) also at the beginning made it clear she didn't like the helmet. She had been working on kids with plagio and no helmet. She asked other therapists what their opinion was, mostly Flowers, and while their position seems to be that CST is preferable to the helmet, starband is considered as better than docband, which is seen as more "intense", tighter possibly. From what I understand their opinion is that the helmet is forcing changes from the outside while CST frees the membranes and allows the body to self correct at its own pace from the inside out. Also it does not rely on growth like the helmet.My therapist is then ok with wearing the starband but told me I need to watch him because she thinks he could need more frequent adjustments, which has not happened yet. Last week we saw Flowers http://rebeccaflowers.org/, she worked on and thinks he won't need to wear the helmet as long as we were told, at least 6 mo. I have to admit I'd love to believe that but am very skeptical still. Last week I found another therapist which my insurance is going to pay for. She is an OT, she had apparently different training, is all for the helmet and told me her Cranial work is a little heavier than the Upledger 5 grams CSt and includes myofascial work ( not sure if I said it right). I wonder if that's more like what a DO would do?She thinks there cannot be any change on the bones if the fascias are not worked on and 5 gram touch just can't do it according to her. She also said that if I feel he looks better right after tharapy it's improvement of the fascias not bones that I'm seeing. So now I'm going to try and have her work on a few times and then decide who I'm going with. Any thoughts?

Also last week had his first scan since beginning of helmet treatment. I'll post a message later about that and try to attach the scan as well., tampa, fl, 21 mo or 18 adj, starband since 14 july + cst and chiro

Plagiocephaly From: kathylorajensen@...Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2009 19:47:46 -0700Subject: Re: Re: Update on plagio in 16 months old

Hi ,That is great 's head might be looking better!My husband took to the osteopath. I spoke with her on the phone this morning. It sounds like she has a lot of experience with this. She told my husband she can get improvement with 's head, but not 100%. 's head looks smoother than last week, but we don't know if it is from the chiro or the osteopath. One thing that worries me is that she wants me to stop the chiro for now and that is the only thing I know is helping . The description of the visit sounds similar to the chiro treatments, but a little more intense. It is only a 15 min drive away. Another thing that bothered my husband and I is that she said she is going to check some things out next week and possibly recommend we discontinue the helmet usage. We would probably never follow that advise.I'm considering bringing my 5 year old with very mild plagio and mild SID to the osteopath if it is not too stressful for him. She said she has gotten a little improvement in plagio on a 4 year old and that she works on many children with SID. I'll think about it for a little while.This is all so stressful!Kathy, mom to 16 months wrote:

Kathy, I wonder if the STARband is different. The plastic on ours seems as good as it was after the first couple of weeks (when it was really stiff) and it's been 11 months since it was made. The STARband also is made looser so that a new band needs a little bit of growth before it seems to fit the head really well. Given that 's growth is so slow, you may not want to introduce this factor. I think that Doc bands are made with a tighter fit (so I've heard). If you notice deterioration in the band (plastic or foam), you could try asking for a new band after the six months is up. 's most improvement occurred during her biggest growth spurt, which I believe was probably between weeks 5 and 9. Then, her growth slowed way down and so did the change. If I'd had the band on during her next growth spurt, I could tell you for sure whether the time factor makes a difference. Unfortunately, we took her out of it before then. In a way, it's not really a good comparison to figure out if time makes a difference in the bands because the longer they are in the band, the older they are and the growth slows done with this process. And, the younger babies who are still growing quickly never need to be in a band for as long as 6 months. I wonder how both CT and Orthoamerica made their determinations of how long the bands are good for. It seems that this would be extremely difficult to figure out in any kind of reliable manner. Glad to hear about the chiro visit. Both of us have been checking out 's head this week, and I think that we are seeing improvement. I'm not sure whether it's from the chiro or the CST, but who cares? has now had16 adjustments and she's still not holding between appointments, but she's easier to adjust. Anyway, the improvement is just subjective and is obviously not any kind of proof. But, we think that she is looking better. In fact, I had her in pig tails and I thought that she looked pretty good. I think I'm going to ask for measurements at her next CST appointment. How did the visit with the osteopath go? , mom to , 25 monthsSTARband grad May 2009Chiro and CSTland

Re: Re: Update on plagio in 16 months old

Hi ,Thanks! This makes sense. I still don't understand why Orthomerica doesn't believe this. The only reason I can think of is the holding points aren't as important for a Starband. If there was any chance a new Starband would do better than our current one, we would beg our ortho to make a new one at 18 months. However, if it doesn't matter for the Starband, we might as well not spend the money. It is confusing. It was the first 2 weeks in the Starband where we saw the drop in asymmetry. There is no way to know if this was because it was new or that is when we saw the growth. Now I think it was not just growth we saw, but partially swelling as well.The right side of 's head is not quite as angular after his chiro visit yesterday. Today he has his first visit with an osteopath. Thanks everybody,Kathy, mom to 16 months, 4 months in Starbandnwilkens2275 wrote:

I'm not sure it has as much to do with the foam as it does with the plastic. CT believes (and I agree from my exerience) that the plastic loses strength and the holding points aren't as strong by 4 months, especially after the foam is shaved out in areas and you've been taking it off and putting it on for some many months (think of how hard it was to get the band on at the beginning of treatment, and how easy it is by the end). So starting with a new band is actually more beneficial. We saw the most improvement in my son's head shape in the first weeks of each of his bands, then it would taper off a bit. The other idea too, is that the second band (or even a new DOCBand after wearing another band for a while) is custom made to fit the head at that point (after whatever change has occurred from the first band), not where you started. So it will fit differently, can address different holding points if necessary, and achieve better results than to leave an old band on longer. Jake-3 (DOCBand Grad 9/08) > > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > We took for an eval at CT, a twelve hour round-trip drive! > > > Their > > > > assessment was very consistent with the Stanband scanner's > > > > measurements. I was surprised and a little relieved after > > > following so > > > > many posts where CT provided higher asymmetry measurements. > > > has > > > > mild plagio, and his brachy barely follows within the upper > > > border of > > > > normal. His right forehand is slightly bigger than the left. I was > > > > extremely disappointed that they noted some ear and eye > > > asymmetry, which > > > > I had not noticed. It is very mild, but now I know it is there. :|( > > > > has never been diagnosed with torticollis, but the evaluation > > > > showed he still prefers turning his head right. I should > > > probably start > > > > being more aggressive about addressing 's neck. > > > > > > > > Due to his age and that his case is mild, they did not recommend > > > banding > > > > again. However, they are very willing to up until 18 months. > > > They said > > > > we may not get the results we want though and any improvement > > > will be > > > > slow. Since I'm still unhappy with 's head, we are most > > > definitely > > > > going to try another band. We are still unsure when to switch > > > bands. > > > > (The main reason to switch is CT's willingness and experience > > > treating > > > > older babies.) CT recommended switching right away if we were going > > > > to. However, this may mean less overall band time. Our Starband > > > fixed > > > > the mild brachy and visually improved the back asymmetry. I'm very > > > > worried about the forehead and facial asymmetry though however > > > mild it > > > > is. CT said that if we rebanded now we could do two DOC bands, > > > but it > > > > would not be recommended. We're leaning toward finishing out our 6 > > > > months in the Starband, 10 weeks left, and then switching at 18 > > > months. > > > > I feel nervous about this decision, or for that matter any > > > alternative > > > > decision. > > > > > > > > I've read people have had late success in a DOC band with forehead > > > > asymmetry. How about with a right anterior ear and barely > > > thinner left > > > > eye? Please share both positive and negative results. Could an > > > > osteopath help with any of these asymmetries? We have an > > > appointment > > > > set up with one in early Nov. We also get chiro/CST treatments > > > from a > > > > wonderful chiropractor, but she has been on vacation for a > > > couple weeks. :|( > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > Kathy, mom to , almost 16 months, almost 4 months Starband > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >>