Torticollis is a condition where the neck muscles cause the head to turn or rotate to the side, and Pella Regional Therapy Services says they can help. Amy Herdegen with Pella Regional says when babies are born with this condition, it’s called congenital muscular torticollis, and it may have been caused by the position of the baby’s head while growing inside the womb, or muscle tightness or injury. She says Pella Regional’s Physical Therapy team provides manual therapy and exercises to help relax the tight muscles and strengthen the baby’s neck.

“We teach parents how to change things in the infant’s normal environment to encourage them to move their head out of the favored position and move towards full head and neck movement,” said Herdegen. “We also teach parents exercises and activities to do at home to stretch the tight muscles in the infant’s neck to improve range of motion.”

Soon after birth, parents may notice their baby prefers to keep his or her head turned one direction, or rests with the head tilted to one side. In other cases, parents may not notice anything alarming initially, but may find that as their baby gains more head control, he or she may struggle to look to one side. Hear more about torticollis on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.