Manual therapy in infantile torticollis: a randomized, controlled pilot study

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Physical Therapy
• Manual Therapy

Background:

• Infant torticollis is commonly treated with physiotherapy.
• Manual therapy is an emerging treatment approach in Norway for this condition.
• Evidence on manual therapy's effectiveness for infant torticollis is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate measurement methods for infant torticollis.
• To assess the short-term effects of manual therapy combined with physiotherapy.
• To compare this combined approach against physiotherapy alone.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 32 infants aged 3-6 months.
• Participants were assigned to either manual therapy plus physiotherapy or physiotherapy alone.
• Outcomes were evaluated using video recordings of symptom changes.

Main Results:

• The study assessed 12 parameters, including range of motion and head righting reactions.
• A non-significant trend towards greater improvement in lateral flexion and head righting was observed in the intervention group.
• No statistically significant differences were found between the groups.

Conclusions:

• In this pilot study, manual therapy combined with physiotherapy did not show significantly better short-term results than physiotherapy alone for moderate infant torticollis.
• The findings suggest that manual therapy may not offer additional benefits.
• Further investigation is warranted to confirm these preliminary findings.