Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Chiropractic Round 3 for Torticollis: Progress Pictures

Based on the results of the thermal scans, Kellyn's third round of chiropractic adjustments reduced a significant amount of nerve compression. Although encouraging news, I remind myself of the original reason I sought out chiropractic in the first place: torticollis. So the real question is whether or not the adjustments improved her mild (yet so stubborn) torticollis. Its tricky to assess for myself, as her torticollis presentation over the past few months is mild, subtle, and fleeting. One moment she's significantly tilting her head, the next moment her head is perfectly midline. Even by the time I grab my camera to snap a pic of her tilting, the tilt will disappear that fast. Anyways, here are some pictures of Kellyn at the beginning and end of chiropractic round 3.

After 1st Adjustment of Chiropractic Round 3 (9/05/2014):

Toddler sitting with a mild right head tilt
Head tilt not too visible here

Re-Scan After 6 Chiropractic Adjustments

After six chiropractic adjustments, Kellyn was due for a re-scan of her back to see if her prescribed treatment had made a difference.  The Rolling Thermal Scan is the official name of the scanning assessment tool that the chiropractor utilized.  The device is rolled up the back and it assesses nerve compression caused by vetebral sublaxations.  As a person unlikely to trust anecdotal evidence (especially when it comes to alternative medicine), I was excited to have an objective measure to evaluate progress.   I honestly was feeling a little skeptical that the adjustments were going to cause any significant change in the scan results.  However, I was pleasantly surprised by the Rolling Thermal Scan results.

Rolling Thermal Scan results of a toddler with torticollis. The results are before and after the toddler's chiropractic adjustments.
'Before' and 'After' results of the Rolling Thermal Scan

Friday, September 5, 2014

Restarting Torticollis Exercises & Chiropractic

So a year has passed since Kellyn was first diagnosed with torticollis. I mentioned previously that her PT was pleased with her improvement and gave us the OK to stop doing her torticollis exercises at home. However, I'm still not entirely satisfied with Kellyn's head positioning. I notice that she has a habit of slightly tilting her head on a regular basis. In addition, I have noticed her restarting her bad habit of curving her body into a c-shape. For the amount of time and energy poured into her treatment, I would have thought her head tilt and trunk curvature would have been entirely eliminated. Therefore, I decided to start doing her torticollis exercises with her again. I dedicate about ten minutes each morning to her exercises. Now that she's a very active and mobile toddler, its a lot more difficult to get her to cooperate with the exercises. I basically get her distracted with TV and run through our little torticollis exercise routine.

Toddler with mild torticollis sitting on a toybox
This slight right tilt is Kellyn's normal. It's obviously very mild, but enough for me to notice.