A concerned mom presented with her seven-month-old daughter. Surgery was a possible option for her hip dysplasia. The baby was also being treated for torticollis and plagiocephaly.
Thirty hours of labor ended in a vaginal birth, and the newborn was in the NICU for five days with low oxygen. Her latch was poor and a feeding tube was also needed.
She had many medical opinions in her short life, and this was how I saw the situation:
Hip Dysplasia
She presented with a zero-second brain cycle and a huge pelvic twist. I believe that her entire body was affected by this fascial twist.
The tissue started to release nicely at the first visit. I suggested to mom that we try to clear the pelvic area of strain to possibly avoid hip surgery.
After the first visit, both parents reported an immediate change at home where she was able to roll and move significantly better. Dad noted, “It was amazing to see.”
Torticollis
The baby had many visits of physical therapy to relieve this strain, and her neck fascia felt loose. As I have seen many times, the therapist did not connect the dots where the pelvic strain, as the root cause, passed through the trunk and into the neck resulting in torticollis.
Torticollis is rarely just a local neck problem; that strain is usually a full-body problem.
Plagiocephally
The child presented wearing a helmet with one more week of usage remaining. I believe that the original cranial distortion was an extension of the pelvic, trunk, and neck twist.
I would have recommended completing therapy before deciding on a helmet. As fascial strain is released through the body, many times the cranial tissues can realign on their own without a helmet.
TMJ
In the history, poor latching strongly indicated a TMJ problem. Sure enough, there was TMJ strain on the left side of her head as part of the pelvic twist.
In the healthcare world, all of these issues are generally viewed as separate entities. But in the craniosacral fascial system they can all be manifestations of a traumatized full-body fascial web during the 40 weeks of gestation.
In a perfect world, I believe that the work on day one would have changed the trajectory of this child’s life. Correction is still doable now, but therapy then would have saved the family tremendous angst.
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