Many parents of torticollis babies are most concerned with the cosmetic factor of their child not looking balanced. This story presents a different functional aspect.
The medical explanation of torticollis fits well into our Gillespie Approach (GA) model of compressive soft tissue in-utero strain. I saw a torticollis baby from NYC a few years ago who did well with GA.
His 33-year-old mother wanted GA because she hurt everywhere on her back and neck. She said, “Pick a spot and it hurts.” She had many sore throats as a child. She had lived with pain 24/7 and tried many therapies with no lasting results.
Seventy-five hours and still counting into her GA onion, her body is now showing severe in-utero torticollis compressive strain targeting her neck.
GA is now working through four structural factors in her case:
1. The umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around her neck. When we do GA at every visit, a bright red ring appears on her throat. Krissy, Mike and I saw this repeatedly in our infant research. If you did not know the basic principles of GA, it would seem surreal. The craniosacral fascial system can remember and hold its soft tissue strain for a lifetime.
2. Her neck severely arches.
3. Her neck tilts to the right.
4. In that right tilt, her neck has a clockwise twist at the base.
Our clinical equation: a tightly wrapped cord + around an arched + tilted + twisted neck = chronic 24/7 neck pain.
Great improvement has fixated mom on becoming completely strain-free. GA is all about quality of life and not so much about cosmetics. We are fine if Hollywood/looks is your thing, but we just want people to be happy and healthy.
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