3 Exercises to Promote Indendent Standing

Standing is a building block skill that eventually leads to babies learning to walk.  And once baby masters walking, it's likely that the torticollis will improve.  This motivates me to do everything I can to help Kellyn master these skills.  In this tutorial below, I'm going to demonstrate three easy exercises that encourage independent standing.  These exercises should only be started when child exhibits the ability to bear weight on feet while being supported.  As always, please consult with your child's physical therapist before trying any of these exercises.

Video Tutorial

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):

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.

'Before' and 'After' results of the Rolling Thermal Scan

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.

This slight right tilt is Kellyn's normal. It's obviously very mild, but enough for me to notice.

Torticollis Clinic Discharge

Kellyn had her third appointment with the torticollis clinic at Children's National Medical Center today.  And the physical therapist and nurse observed Kellyn's head positioning while walking around.  They also tested her neck strength and range of motion.  They thought she looked great and that she could be discharged from their clinic.  And the best news of all is that I no longer need to do her torticollis exercises.  Praise the Lord!  I will gladly welcome back the extra twenty minutes into our day that was previously consumed by these exercises.

Happy to spend more time playing instead of doing her dreaded torticollis exercises

Exercises to Promote Walking

Lately, we have been working on exercises to promote walking.  As I've mentioned before, once walking becomes well established, we expect Kellyn's torticollis to improve.  Therefore, we are working on both torticollis exercises and motor skill development exercises.  In the video and written tutorial below, I have described two simple exercises to encourage walking.

Video Tutorial:

How to Help Baby Learn to Crawl

I am anxious for my daughter to start crawling because her torticollis is likely to improve once crawling is established.  Her physical therapist has taught us several different exercises that encourage crawling. Here's one of those crawling exercises below.

Video Tutorial:

Early Signs of Torticollis

Kellyn was officially diagnosed with torticollis at seven months.  Unfortunately, she was showing signs of this condition well before that.  If I had known what to look for, I could have had her diagnosed way earlier and her condition would have been much easier to correct.  Torticollis treated before four months has the best prognosis.  That's why its so important for new parents to be mindful of the signs and symptoms of torticollis, so that they can catch it and correct it as fast as possible.

At the time, I never thought anything of her head tilt.

Review of Hip Helpers (for Excessive Hip Abduction)

While learning to crawl, we noticed that Kellyn had trouble remaining on all 4's which obviously made crawling more difficult.  Her legs would often split and she would fall back on her stomach.  We soon discovered that she had excessive hip abduction and low tone.  Thankfully, our physical therapist suggested trying Hip Helpers in order to help correct the issue.  Hip Helpers are special shorts that are worn by the child to address excessive hip abduction.  Here is my product demo & video review of the product:

Torticollis Pictures: 7 months of PT

It's crazy to think that Kellyn has been doing physical therapy for her torticollis for almost seven months.  That's equates to almost half of her life considering she'll be 14 months in a little over a week.  I feel like her torticollis progress has plateaued over the past few months.  In my opinion, the head tilt doesn't look more pronounced, but it also doesn't look much better than it did a few months ago.  That's a little frustrating to me since I dedicate a good chunk of time daily to her torticollis exercises.  I just want to know that the hard work I'm putting in is actually making a difference.  On a positive note, her motor skills are continually progressing.  Over the past few weeks, she went from taking a couple steps to taking several steps. We still have tons of spills and I would not officially qualify her as a walker yet, but she's certainly on her way.  Anyways, check out her progress pictures below.

Pretty accurate representation of her current head tilt. Happy about her great progress
since the beginning, but frustrated that progress plateaued in the past few months

Cruising Exercises for Baby

Before a baby walks, she will first develop the ability to cruise along furniture or household objects. Kellyn's physical therapist believes that once Kellyn starts walking, her head tilt will decrease. Therefore, I have been working with Kellyn on cruising exercises to develop the precursor skills to walking.  Below is a video tutorial and instructions for three different cruising exercises to promote future walking.

Video Tutorial:

Review of Snuggin Go Too Wipe-able Leatherette

After my daughter outgrew her Snuggin Go, upgrading to the Snuggin Go Too Child Positioner was a no brainer.  BGR Juvenile Products was kind enough to give me the Snuggin Go Too Wipe-able Leatherette Child Positioner to try out and review.  I was excited because I was still able to reuse the cushions from the Torticollis Support Kit that we had purchased for her first Snuggin Go.  Since my daughter is a messy eater, I was also looking forward to trying out a product that was easy-to-clean.  If you are interested in my video review of this product, check it out below:



Although the wipe-able leatherette material is a bit more expensive than their standard traditional material, I think its well worth the expense.  If your child is younger than 1 year, you can get the wipe-able leatherette Snuggin Go here.  For the toddler version of this product, you can purchase it here.  If would like to see my review for the Snuggin Go Infant Positioner, check out this post.

Disclosure: If you buy any products through my Amazon affiliate links, I will receive a percentage of the purchase price.  This can help me to continue providing quality content and resources.  Click here for more info. 

Discharged from Outpatient PT

Yesterday was one of Kellyn’s outpatient physical therapy re-evaluations for her torticollis. The physical therapist officially discharged Kellyn from the program! After about five months of outpatient physical therapy, we are finally done. All the hard work is finally paying off. I’m so excited, relieved, and thankful.

Hat's off to Kellyn for getting discharged from outpatient physical therapy!

Video Review: Snuggin Go & Torticollis Support Kit

Below is a video product review of the Snuggin Go and the Torticollis Support Kit.  If you prefer a written review instead, check out this previous post reviewing these products.

Range of Motion Exercise #3

Due to Kellyn's right torticollis, she has limited range of motion turning her head towards her right side.  This exercise will help increase her range of motion looking towards her right.  I like this exercise because I could sometimes get away with Kellyn not even realizing we're doing a torticollis exercise.   When babies are young, they often get pretty captivated by an interesting toy.  And since young babies are often too young to crawl, they can be pretty content just staying in one place and looking at something interesting.  Unfortunately, by the time your baby is mobile, this exercise may become near impossible to do since baby is unlikely to stay in one place for you.  I am including both a video demonstration and a written explanation of this exercise.

Video Tutorial:

Supported Crawling Position #2

I'm anxious for my daughter to start crawling in hopes that her torticollis will improve.  Other parents have reported that achieving this skill has made a difference in their child's torticollis.  Anyways, this is a pretty simple exercise that will allow your baby to become more comfortable being on the hands and knees crawling position.  It will also allow your baby to partially balance her body weight with one hand just like she would during crawling.  In the space below, I have included both a video tutorial and written instructions detailing this exercise.

Video Tutorial:

New Torticollis Exercises

I just wanted to do a post on some of the new torticollis exercises we learned for Kellyn at our most recent appointment at the torticollis clinic at Children's National Medical Center. Please note that my daughter has right torticollis. Since her torticollis is mainly attributed to her lack of neck strength on her left side, they are having us focus more on neck strengthening exercises.  I'm so thankful that they provided me with some new ideas, since Kellyn (almost twelve months) has outgrown many of her previously learned exercises.

I'm impressed with how her head righting has improved so much since the beginning of treatment.

Torticollis Clinic Follow-up Appointment

Today we had Kellyn's three month follow-up appointment at the torticollis clinic at Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC.  It went really well!  I love this place because the physical therapist and nurse practitioner who run the clinic specialize in torticollis treatment.  Since torticollis is not very common, it can be hard to find medical professionals who possess in-depth information about this condition.  I'm able to pick their brain about all my torticollis-related questions (and I have a lot), and they were able to answer all my questions.

Kellyn at the torticollis clinic appointment

Toys to Use During PT Exercises

Most of us can probably agree that our babies don't enjoy their torticollis exercises.  When our babies get upset, we naturally feel upset too.  Thankfully, I finally discovered the key to getting through a good set of torticollis exercises is distracting your baby with some cool toys. The goal is to get your baby so involved with playing that they barely realize they are actually doing their exercises.  Also, make sure to only allow your baby to play with these special toys during torticollis exercises only.  If you leave the toys out so that your baby can play with them anytime, then the novelty of the toys wears off.  I can't promise that cool toys will make every exercise session perfect, but it certainly helps make the experience more bearable for everyone involved.

Tilt Regression (Milestone & Illness-Related)

Unfortunately, Kellyn has had a cold, congestion, and wheezing for the past few weeks. In addition, she's had a slight head tilt regression, which is a little disheartening. However, there is a silver lining to this torticollis regression. I think its largely attributed to her progression with her developmental milestones.  Just in time for her upcoming first birthday in exactly one week's time!

So excited that Kellyn finally learned to crawl on hands and knees!Huge milestone for her.

Rolling Back-to-Belly

In addition to torticollis, Kellyn also had mild trunk curvature.  This trunk curvature made it difficult for her to roll onto her right side.  When she rolled, she usually favored rolling onto her left side.  Kellyn's physical therapist wanted her to become comfortable rolling to her less favored right side.  So here's how the exercise I do to help her become more comfy rolling onto her right side.  I have include both a video tutorial and a written tutorial below.  Please note that the written tutorial offers a bit more hands-on guidance and support for your baby doing the roll.  The video offers less hands-on support and is geared more for babies who can roll independently with a little extra encouragement.

Video Tutorial:

Side Lying Stretch

I started doing this torticollis exercise once my daughter became too mobile and wiggly for the side lying stretch using the Boppy pillow . This version of the neck stretch seems to work much better for her now.  Below is my video demo of this torticollis stretch. I have also included step-by-step written directions for this exercise.  Please note this stretch is designed for the right sided torticollis.

Video Tutorial:

Video: Chiropractic Adjustment for Torticollis

I wanted to share this video of my daughter receiving a chiropractic adjustment to treat her right torticollis.  At the end of the adjustment, the chiropractor also answers some general questions that may arise for parents considering chiropractic care for their child.  I know many parents (myself included) feel apprehensive about having their child adjusted.  Parents considering this treatment option want to make a well-researched and informed decision.  I made this video to help give parents an idea of what they possibly could expect at this type of appointment.



I spent several months of doing physical therapy with Kellyn before I seriously considered supplementing with chiropractic.  After months of twice weekly PT sessions and torticollis exercises at home, I wasn't seeing the level of improvement that I had expected.  I had spoken to several parents who shared great success with doing both physical therapy and chiropractic.  After speaking to these parents, researching chiropractic myself, and praying about this option, I felt the peace I needed to move forward with this treatment option.

Disclaimer: All treatment options, including chiropractic adjustments, should first be discussed and approved by the child's pediatrician and physical therapist.

Torticollis Pictures: 20 weeks of PT

So my daughter has been in physical therapy for her torticollis for twenty weeks (over four months). In comparison with the last set of pictures posted after eleven weeks of PT, I think there has been a very subtle improvement in her torticollis. I think she's holding her head a bit more midline and her range of motion to the right has improved slightly. Her trunk seems more straight and her facial symmetry is continuing to look great.

Caught a moment of her keeping her head midline.

Torticollis Physical Therapy Re-Evaluation

Here's a video post about my daughter's physical therapy re-evaluation for her torticollis.  She has now been in physical therapy for four months.  As her mother, it's more difficult for me to notice Kellyn's improvements since I am with her everyday.  I really value hearing the physical therapist's more objective judgment of Kellyn's progress.

Strengthening Exercise for Torticollis

With my daughter's right torticollis, the right side neck muscles are tighter and stronger than the left side.  In addition to stretching the right side of her neck, we also do exercises to strengthen her left side. Both types of exercises are important in helping to lessen her torticollis.  The exercise below works to strengthen her weak, left side neck muscles by forcing her to work against gravity.  I have included a brief video tutorial AND written instructions in the space below.

Video Tutorial:

Pulling to Stand Exercise

Here's an exercise to help my daughter become more comfortable with pulling to stand (pulling up).  We're hoping as her gross motor skills develop, her torticollis will improve.  We want her to get comfortable with transitioning from tummy to knees to supported standing.  Below, you will see my video demonstration of this exercise, as well as a written explanation with pictures.

Video Tutorial: