I never know how many visits an infant will need for complete correction. I tell parents infants an average of 5 to 8 sessions, but a few babies need more therapy.
An infant presented with severe torticollis and plagiocephaly. I was one of her providers, and she was slowing progressing. After fourteen visits with me, she was significantly better but still had a neck tilt to one side and favored twisting her neck one way.
When she presented for her fifteenth visit, a huge arching pattern surfaced out of nowhere. Mom said that recently she had been doing this new “arching thing,” probably explaining why she was not completely done with therapy.
As a further complication, her arching had a spinal twist that needed to be worked out, too. This was probably part of the torticollis strain originating from the pelvis reaching into the neck and head. So this infant actually had torticollis, plagiocephaly, arching, and twisting—an extreme structural challenge.
I do not want to even imagine what she would have had to live with her entire life without therapy. I expect there would have been chronic pain structural problems and also some metabolic issues with impaired organ system function.
There was no way I or anyone else could have seen this coming. In the Gillespie Approach, we listen to the body, which is directing the healing. We do not attempt to fix or adjust anyone and just follow the lead of the soft tissue fascial web.
The parents need to be on board to stay the course. Because of time and money, it is easy for some to say that the Gillespie Approach did not work for their infant. Fortunately, her parents saw significant improvement and wanted to complete therapy for the benefit of their child.
In a perfect world, this infant would have been seen at birth. Even then, I would have anticipated many sessions to work through her traumatic layers.
The Gillespie Approach is a massage modality that helps the body release its tight connective, or fascial, tissue from its physical and emotional traumas.
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