Abstract
Congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) is a deformation characterized by unilateral
shortening of the sternocleidomastoid muscle resulting in lateral inclination of the
neck associated with contralateral torsion. The purpose of this study was to assess
the role of physical therapy in infants with CMT according to the age when treatment
was started. The study was conducted in the Physical Therapy Clinic “Therapy” in Pristina
for a period of 1 year from June 2016 to June 2017. The number of infants diagnosed
with a CMT was 130 (71 girls and 59 boys). The infants were examined two times during
the study period. The first visit was at the baseline and the second after the intervention.
Three comparative groups are created based on time to start treatment. The infants
were treated for 3 consecutive weeks with five sessions per week with the same therapeutic
procedure. In the first examination of infants, there was no significant difference
between the groups (chi-square test = 0.78, p = 0.08), whereas in the second examination after the 15 therapeutic sessions there
was significant difference in the improvement of all the groups treated with physical
therapy. Significant result was achieved in mean range of motion in infants of the
group aged 3.1 to 6 months (mean = –35.9 ± 12.3, 95% confidence interval [CI], –39.3
to –32.4, p < 0.001) and in the mean side flexion of group aged 3.1 to 6 months (mean difference = –24.5 ± 7.9,
95% CI, –16.9 to –9.7, p < 0.001). While exercises in the 6- to 9-month age group have shown less success,
because the time of appearance for physical therapy has been delayed (mean difference = –23.5 ± 10.7,
95% CI, –15.6 to –8.4, p < 0.001). From the results obtained from this study, we can conclude that the early
start of the physical therapy gives much better results.
Keywords
congenital muscular torticollis - physical therapy - infant
