How to correct a child's crooked neck

People who often take care of a newborn baby can easily notice that the baby's head is tilted to one side. As the child grows, the symptoms do not disappear when he is about 3 weeks old, but seem to be more serious. It can be seen that the baby is not so smooth when turning his head. When this happens, everyone will be confused. What is going on? Generally speaking, when encountering this situation, we should consider whether the child is born with torticollis. When the child's head often tilts in one direction, parents should pay attention. If necessary, you need to take your child to the hospital for diagnosis. If it is torticollis, it will affect the child's facial appearance after the child is 2 years old, causing asymmetry of the left and right faces. So how to treat torticollis in children?

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1. Non-surgical treatment

For children under six months old, non-surgical treatment can achieve satisfactory results. Therefore, once diagnosed, treatment should be initiated as early as possible. Non-surgical treatments include local heat, massage, bed rest, and manual traction.

2. Surgery

(1) Indications and contraindications for surgery: ① Suitable for patients over 6 months old who have not responded to conservative treatment; ② Patients under 12 years old with obvious torticollis deformity; ③ Patients over 12 years old with mild facial deformity may also consider surgical treatment; ④ For adults, since the deformity has existed for many years, not only will the facial deformity become more obvious after surgery, but the vision will also change due to the inability to adapt to the new body position after surgery, so surgery is usually not suitable.

(2) Surgical methods: ① Sternocleidomastoid myotomy is one of the more commonly used surgical methods. A transverse incision is made on the clavicle to expose the sternal head and clavicular head of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The parts above the attachment points are cut off and the surrounding fascia tissue is released. During the operation, care should be taken to avoid damaging the cervical artery, vein and nerves. ② Partial sternocleidomastoid muscle resection is suitable for patients with obvious neck lumps, and the lumpy segment of the sternocleidomastoid muscle can be removed. ③Total sternocleidomastoid muscle resection is suitable for adolescent patients. If the entire sternocleidomastoid muscle is scarred, the entire segment can be removed. ④ Sternocleidomastoid muscle lengthening surgery involves cutting off the clavicular head of the sternocleidomastoid muscle and lengthening the sternal head in a "Z" shape. Advantages of this surgery: Corrects head and neck deviation and restores normal neck movement function; does not destroy the normal surface morphology of the cervical triangle, avoids other surgical methods that leave concave deformities or abnormal flat deformities on the neck, and makes the neck beautiful and symmetrical. ⑤ Combined release and plasty of the upper and lower ends of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. Some scholars believe that this surgery can be used for older children or those who have failed other surgeries. The method is to completely cut off the mastoid side and clavicular head side of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, and extend the sternal head side in a "Z" shape.

(3) Postoperative treatment: Patients with severe torticollis deformity and uncooperative children need to be corrected with a head-neck-chest plaster cast to maintain the child's body position.