When Brooke was about 2 months old we started physical therapy for a condition called torticollis. Since then we’ve had X-rays, CT scans, visits to a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon & pediatric ophthalmologist to determine that her tort is congenital and not the result of bone abnormalities or vision issues. The physical therapy has shown us great results but she still has a stubborn 5° tilt.
So our next step is using a TOT collar. Since Brooke seems to be physically able to hold her head midline, her physical therapist believes that she may hold her head tilted out of habit. Tilted is normal to her. Hopefully this collar will “re-train” her to keep her head midline on her own!
She was fitted for her collar yesterday and when she came out with her physical therapist, she strutted out like she had just been given the prettiest new necklace and wanted to show it off!! No signs that it bothered her at all. We had our first go with it at home last night and I fortunately had good results. She ate a snack, played and hardly seemed to notice it at all.
It’s hard to see my baby wearing it but I’m so relieved that she’s adjusting to it so well!
So did the tot collar help with Brooke’s torticollis? My daughter was also diagnosed with torticollis at 2 months and fast forward 14 months and 2 helmets later, we are still dealing with it. She definitely is weaker on her tort side, but sometimes I also think it’s out of habit. We just started seeing a new PT and she suggested a tot collar. I had heard of them before but haven’t tried one yet. Any insight would be helpful!
Thanks!
Hi Krista!
Sorry its taken me a bit to get back to you. My memory isn’t great but from what I do remember our physical therapist being happy with the results. I don’t feel like we used it long but I don’t remember if that’s because it wasn’t needed any longer or it wasn’t doing the job anymore. Personally, I feel like its worth trying. It wasn’t terribly expensive and once I learned how to put it on quickly, Brooke barely even realized it was there.
I hope that helps! I wish I could remember more but I guess its been 5 years now!! If you have more questions, feel free to send me an email at the address below:
tiredmommytales at gmail dot com
~sarah :o)