Re: Banding in Utah

[Guest guest]

Too bad no one has responded yet because you and I have the same question. I

have the same situation, fraternal twin boys and Twin A has plagio. I am taking

them in in two days to get my referral from the PT. We tried repositioning over

the past month and it hasn't helped. It seems like when it's developed inutero,

repositioning simply can't fix it.

Anyway, any feedback on your experiences in the past few weeks? Thanks, I'll let

you know about my experience as well.

>

> I did some searching before posting, but most of the posts are at least a few

years old (regarding my topic, I mean).

>

> My name is and I have 6mo old fraternal twin boys. Of course Twin A has

mild tort and plagiocephaly (he was in my cervix for 8plus wks). Yesterday the

PT measured him at 9mm off. We have been going to PT since he was a month old,

at 4mo his tort looked okay and we were just measuring the flat spot. So we

waited a bit for another appt, and unfortunately his plagio got worse (he was at

6mm at 4mo).

>

> Anyhow, we got the referral to go see about a helmet yesterday. I am in Utah.

I have a paper with three different places on it, and well, I feel like I am

going in blind. I am hoping someone has more recent experience with any of these

places.

>

> There is:

> SPOTutah.com

> Fitwell

> and

> Shields

>

[Guest guest]

I don't know anything about Utah (I now live in India, but my daughter got her

band in california). However it might help if you knew what kind of band they

provide. I looked online a bit about the 3 places mentioned...

It seems Fitwell uses something called P.A.P. This is a clear helmet that can be

" active or passive " . Passive bands generally take longer to work - they are

basically a shell with a better shape for your baby's head to grow into. An

active band will hold the prominent areas, and needs to be adjusted regularly as

the head grows. Some passive helmets are worn the entire time without being

altered. I haven't heard of a helmet that is either " active or passive " before,

but that is what their website says. I would ask the ortho about this.

Both Sheilds and Spot use the starband. This is a commonly used active band, and

the one my daugther wore. The experience of the individual ortho is important in

getting good results, but the product is generally good if the ortho is good. I

would talk to both places about their level of experience. Sheilds is listed on

the orthomerica site (maker or starband) as having a starscanner. This may mean

they do more bands. Also it means the band will be made with a scan of the head

vs. going through the casting process, but to me this is less important.

Given that I'm more familiar with the starband vs. PAP I would recommend one of

the starband providers (my personal opinion).

-christine

sydney, 4.5 yrs, starband grad

> >

> > I did some searching before posting, but most of the posts are at least a

few years old (regarding my topic, I mean).

> >

> > My name is and I have 6mo old fraternal twin boys. Of course Twin A

has mild tort and plagiocephaly (he was in my cervix for 8plus wks). Yesterday

the PT measured him at 9mm off. We have been going to PT since he was a month

old, at 4mo his tort looked okay and we were just measuring the flat spot. So we

waited a bit for another appt, and unfortunately his plagio got worse (he was at

6mm at 4mo).

> >

> > Anyhow, we got the referral to go see about a helmet yesterday. I am in

Utah. I have a paper with three different places on it, and well, I feel like I

am going in blind. I am hoping someone has more recent experience with any of

these places.

> >

> > There is:

> > SPOTutah.com

> > Fitwell

> > and

> > Shields

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Sorry that I missed this post before. Ultimately we decided to go with Fit-well.

There was someone at church that used them and had a great experience. I just

couldn't purchase such expensive equipment without a personal referral. The

friend's son measured a 7 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being worst) and she thinks he

wore it for maybe 3-4 months. Their son is 2.5yrs old now, and his head looks

great. Also their helmet is decently cheaper, $2100.

We had twin A's eval done and his casting was last week, so we should get his

helmet this week. After all this plagio talk we started noticing more anomalies

to Twin B's head, so at A's casting we had the orthotist briefly examine B. He

recommended him for a helmet as well. My husband noticed the first day the twins

were born that Twin B's forehead bulged on one side, but I passed it off as

nothing, but the older he has gotten it is more obvious, and in looking from the

top of his head you can see definite asymmetry with his ears. Anyhow, we got the

referral from the ped and have Twin B's eval this week as well.

From what the orthotist said, insurance usually likes to see about 1cm of

difference, and Twin A was just at that. Of course with our huge deductible we

are paying out of pocket. Just praying now that Twin B's measurements will be

enough off that insurance will cover it, since we'll have met the deductible.

All in all, two appointments, I like the orthotist, office, staff, etc. He did

talk somewhat at the eval about passive/active helmets. Though I was trying to

keep two babies quiet, I did absorb some of it! lol. Basically, he was saying

that the doc/star band helmets are considered " active " , but that basically all

helmets have a void to grow in to, and sometimes with the active helmets you do

not always see results right away because as the head grows the styrofoam is

compressed, which makes sense to me. He said that with their helmet, sometimes

you do not results immediately, that it is all dependent upon growth. He said

sometimes you would see little changes, and sometimes huge changes. But I feel

we made the best choice for us.

If you have any other questions about Fit-well, I would be glad to answer them.

> > >

> > > I did some searching before posting, but most of the posts are at least a

few years old (regarding my topic, I mean).

> > >

> > > My name is and I have 6mo old fraternal twin boys. Of course Twin A

has mild tort and plagiocephaly (he was in my cervix for 8plus wks). Yesterday

the PT measured him at 9mm off. We have been going to PT since he was a month

old, at 4mo his tort looked okay and we were just measuring the flat spot. So we

waited a bit for another appt, and unfortunately his plagio got worse (he was at

6mm at 4mo).

> > >

> > > Anyhow, we got the referral to go see about a helmet yesterday. I am in

Utah. I have a paper with three different places on it, and well, I feel like I

am going in blind. I am hoping someone has more recent experience with any of

these places.

> > >

> > > There is:

> > > SPOTutah.com

> > > Fitwell

> > > and

> > > Shields

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Maybe you can add your experience to the database when you are done. I don't think that the group has heard much from people from Utah. It will be good for others to know where to go.

P.S. I am an alumn from the U of U and lived in SLC for 7 years. I got both my B.S. and M.Ed. from there.

From: rachelrazzled <rachelrazzle@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Fri, July 23, 2010 8:19:40 PMSubject: Re: Banding in Utah

Sorry that I missed this post before. Ultimately we decided to go with Fit-well. There was someone at church that used them and had a great experience. I just couldn't purchase such expensive equipment without a personal referral. The friend's son measured a 7 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being worst) and she thinks he wore it for maybe 3-4 months. Their son is 2.5yrs old now, and his head looks great. Also their helmet is decently cheaper, $2100. We had twin A's eval done and his casting was last week, so we should get his helmet this week. After all this plagio talk we started noticing more anomalies to Twin B's head, so at A's casting we had the orthotist briefly examine B. He recommended him for a helmet as well. My husband noticed the first day the twins were born that Twin B's forehead bulged on one side, but I passed it off as nothing, but the older he has gotten it is more obvious, and in looking from the top of his head you can see definite

asymmetry with his ears. Anyhow, we got the referral from the ped and have Twin B's eval this week as well. From what the orthotist said, insurance usually likes to see about 1cm of difference, and Twin A was just at that. Of course with our huge deductible we are paying out of pocket. Just praying now that Twin B's measurements will be enough off that insurance will cover it, since we'll have met the deductible. All in all, two appointments, I like the orthotist, office, staff, etc. He did talk somewhat at the eval about passive/active helmets. Though I was trying to keep two babies quiet, I did absorb some of it! lol. Basically, he was saying that the doc/star band helmets are considered "active", but that basically all helmets have a void to grow in to, and sometimes with the active helmets you do not always see results right away because as the head grows the styrofoam is compressed, which makes sense to me. He said that with their

helmet, sometimes you do not results immediately, that it is all dependent upon growth. He said sometimes you would see little changes, and sometimes huge changes. But I feel we made the best choice for us. If you have any other questions about Fit-well, I would be glad to answer them. > > >> > > I did some searching before posting, but most of the posts are at least a few years old (regarding my topic, I mean). > > > > > > My name is and I have 6mo old fraternal twin boys. Of course Twin A has mild tort and plagiocephaly (he was in my cervix for 8plus wks). Yesterday the PT measured him at 9mm off. We have been going to PT since he was a month old, at 4mo his tort looked okay and we were just measuring the flat spot. So we waited a bit for another appt, and unfortunately his plagio got worse (he was at 6mm at 4mo). > > > > > > Anyhow, we got the referral to go see about a helmet yesterday. I am in Utah. I have a paper with three different

places on it, and well, I feel like I am going in blind. I am hoping someone has more recent experience with any of these places. > > > > > > There is:> > > SPOTutah.com> > > Fitwell> > > and > > > Shields> > >> >>

[Guest guest]

I would be interested in hearing how your experience is, and how the results

are. If you can post a picture that would be good too. On the website it has a

lot of holes in it, all over the top. My daughter had holes only in the back

where she had lots of extra room and it wasn't touching her head. Two concerns

about the holes are that the band can't put any pressure on an area with holes

(can't hold the head in that spot), and also that too many holes might

compromise the holding power/strength of the plastic in general. Also I would be

interested if it is adjusted by shaving out foam as your baby grows the way

docband/star/hanger are.

thanks and hope you see good progress with your boys' heads.

-christine

sydney, 4.5 yrs, starband grad

> > > >

> > > > I did some searching before posting, but most of the posts are at least

a few years old (regarding my topic, I mean).

> > > >

> > > > My name is and I have 6mo old fraternal twin boys. Of course Twin

A has mild tort and plagiocephaly (he was in my cervix for 8plus wks). Yesterday

the PT measured him at 9mm off. We have been going to PT since he was a month

old, at 4mo his tort looked okay and we were just measuring the flat spot. So we

waited a bit for another appt, and unfortunately his plagio got worse (he was at

6mm at 4mo).

> > > >

> > > > Anyhow, we got the referral to go see about a helmet yesterday. I am in

Utah. I have a paper with three different places on it, and well, I feel like I

am going in blind. I am hoping someone has more recent experience with any of

these places.

> > > >

> > > > There is:

> > > > SPOTutah.com

> > > > Fitwell

> > > > and

> > > > Shields

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

We don't have our helmet just yet, but when we had our evaluation we saw some of

the helmets, I don't recall there being holes in them, but I will let you know.

Their website does not have a lot of photos, but I did find some more photos

from a local newspaper article.I can see something, maybe they are holes, who

knows? lol

http://www.oandp.com/articles/2006-05_05.asp

I will share some photos once we have A's helmet as well. I am new to all this,

so I do not completely understand the need to " hold the head in place " . Wouldn't

any helmet do that, if there is not a void, it can't grow into that shape,

right? I do know they are not adjusted by shaving foam, since there is no foam,

so I'll let you know how the adjustments go.

> > > > >

> > > > > I did some searching before posting, but most of the posts are at

least a few years old (regarding my topic, I mean).

> > > > >

> > > > > My name is and I have 6mo old fraternal twin boys. Of course

Twin A has mild tort and plagiocephaly (he was in my cervix for 8plus wks).

Yesterday the PT measured him at 9mm off. We have been going to PT since he was

a month old, at 4mo his tort looked okay and we were just measuring the flat

spot. So we waited a bit for another appt, and unfortunately his plagio got

worse (he was at 6mm at 4mo).

> > > > >

> > > > > Anyhow, we got the referral to go see about a helmet yesterday. I am

in Utah. I have a paper with three different places on it, and well, I feel like

I am going in blind. I am hoping someone has more recent experience with any of

these places.

> > > > >

> > > > > There is:

> > > > > SPOTutah.com

> > > > > Fitwell

> > > > > and

> > > > > Shields

> > > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hello,My daughter's helmet had holes, but only to allow more circulation in the areas where growth is desired(no holes where growth was restricted.) The need to "hold" certain areas allows for the head to morph into a more "normal" shape. Prominent areas are held, so they don't get any bigger, to allow growth in the deficient areas. For my daughter who had severe plagio, the helmet held certain areas and allowed the deficient areas to catch up with the rest. By the way, my daughter's helmet was made of very rigid material, so that even areas where we wanted to see growth, the holes did not compromise the integrity of the helmet. However, I was under the impression holes were only drilled in the "void" areas? At least that was the case with my daughter's helmet. Perhaps, others could offer some input

ono this?-Amy From: rachelrazzled <rachelrazzle@...>Plagiocephaly Sent: Sun, July 25, 2010 11:33:15 PMSubject: Re: Banding in Utah

We don't have our helmet just yet, but when we had our evaluation we saw some of the helmets, I don't recall there being holes in them, but I will let you know. Their website does not have a lot of photos, but I did find some more photos from a local newspaper article.I can see something, maybe they are holes, who knows? lol

http://www.oandp.com/articles/2006-05_05.asp

I will share some photos once we have A's helmet as well. I am new to all this, so I do not completely understand the need to "hold the head in place". Wouldn't any helmet do that, if there is not a void, it can't grow into that shape, right? I do know they are not adjusted by shaving foam, since there is no foam, so I'll let you know how the adjustments go.

> > > > >

> > > > > I did some searching before posting, but most of the posts are at least a few years old (regarding my topic, I mean).

> > > > >

> > > > > My name is and I have 6mo old fraternal twin boys. Of course Twin A has mild tort and plagiocephaly (he was in my cervix for 8plus wks). Yesterday the PT measured him at 9mm off. We have been going to PT since he was a month old, at 4mo his tort looked okay and we were just measuring the flat spot. So we waited a bit for another appt, and unfortunately his plagio got worse (he was at 6mm at 4mo).

> > > > >

> > > > > Anyhow, we got the referral to go see about a helmet yesterday. I am in Utah. I have a paper with three different places on it, and well, I feel like I am going in blind. I am hoping someone has more recent experience with any of these places.

> > > > >

> > > > > There is:

> > > > > SPOTutah.com

> > > > > Fitwell

> > > > > and

> > > > > Shields

> > > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

>