Anyone DC deal with Plagio and wearing a helmet?

SMILEYD

if so, who did you use, Hanger, Cranial Tech or Starband?

 What was your experience?

greatmeow

My DD#1 wore a doc band (cranial tech) for 4 months...put on in January and off in May.  She was twin A and was wedged in my hip.  This resulted in torticollis and plagio.  Our experience was positive.  It didn't correct the issue 100%, but it corrected it enough to have her head grow in the right direction.  Does that make sense?  Now she is 6 and looking at her, you would never know she had such issues as a baby.

SMILEYD

Yes, thanks for response.,

 

Exactly our sitaution, he was twin A, wedged down their, TWIN b took all room. Has torticollis.

Cranial Tech is too far, and with his diagnosis, seeing a neuro then othotist may allow insurance coverage through Hanger. Why Im asking,

 

 

jbl126

My baby A also had tort and plagio and had to wear a helmet.  She had a docband which she wore for almost 6 mths.  And her head looks great now. 

Ours was covered by insurance.

clarku2000

My twin A has torticollis and slight plagio because she was wedged in a comfy spot as well.  Twin B took all the room.  Her doctors right now haven't suggested a helmet, but when I asked the PT about it she said that the skull continues to mold until they're 4 years old.  My biggest concern is--what if her head doesn't change shape now and it's too late to correct by the time she's 4?

greatmeow

Cranial Tech was in Chicago and we lived in Louisville at the time.  We used Angel Flight (at the time it was called LifeLine Pilots) to get to Chicago.  Once I got to the airport, the place we parked the plane would let me use the crew car to get to the appointment.  Overall it was about a 1/2 day ordeal.  Also insurance covered it except for $300.   We had to sumbit measurements which were taken at the concult and the insurance ok'ed it from there.  Also Ellie was in PT 2xs a week for 45 mins each session.

Also...yes by 4 it is too late, IMHO. 

 There was a yahoo group for torticollis and plagio that was super helpful to me when I was dealing with all of this.

Melin086

Kaden had plagio due to being twin a and being wedged with no room.  We used Hanger and he had a helmet for 7 weeks.  We had a very positive experience with them.

groovygrl

DS was twin A, had slight torticollis (didnt need PT but we had to do stretching multiple times a day) and plagio & brachycephaly. We did a doc band from cranial tech from 4-8 months (actually had to have 2 of them, he outgrew the first one in 6 weeks). Very happy with it (no insurance coverage)!!! But I can understand not wanting to go there if you live really far sinc eyou have to go pretty regularly (depending on how old they are).

Babycenter has a great, very active plagio support board.

To hte pp about waiting til age 4, yes that is way too late, I'm really not even sure what could be done at that age. Some would say waiting til 1 year is too late- the growth slows down so much by then, the older kids get, often they have to wear the helmet even longer.  I would personally take your LO for an eval now. They are free & you don't need a dr's referral. My first pedi was very lax about it & I was concerned (and this was only at 3 months), we changed pedis for a variety of reasons & the next one (at a little over 3 months) took one look at him & referred him immediately- she knew how to assess him (from the top of the head, she could see that his ears were already misaligned), and I do not feel the original pedi really did.

Just my .02 but an eval & some more info can't hurt, IMO. I am so glad we did it.  

shellshavintwins

My baby b has it and is being treated at Cranial tech, who's treatment cut off I believe is 18 months. We have a Hanger 30 mins away, but since Cranial Tech is only a 3 hour drive we are using them. Not many people in this area have their babies treated for it so we wanted someone with alot more experiance doing it. 

Hopeful1!

clarku2000:

My twin A has torticollis and slight plagio because she was wedged in a comfy spot as well.  Twin B took all the room.  Her doctors right now haven't suggested a helmet, but when I asked the PT about it she said that the skull continues to mold until they're 4 years old.  My biggest concern is--what if her head doesn't change shape now and it's too late to correct by the time she's 4?

 My son needed 2 DOC Bands from CranialTech to correct his severe plagio (20mm).  His pedi didn't think it was necessary.  Thank God I didn't listen to him, I am so glad we did it.  Go with your gut, if you feel that you LO isn't responding to repositioning and PT ask about a helmet.  We got the majority of DS's correction in the first 6 weeks of treatment.  CranialTech will not work with kids older than 18 months so it is a time sensitive issue.  Good Luck