| Abstract [eng] |
ABSTRACT Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine Health Science Institute Department of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine Master‘s degree of Rehabilitation THE EFFECTS OF CONGENITAL TORTICOLLIS ON INFANT MOTOR DEVELOPMENT: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW Rehabilitation Master‘s Thesis The Author: Indre Sverciauskaite, a second-year student of the Master‘s degree in Rehabilitation study program at the Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Lithuania. Academic Supervisor: assistant PhD Tomas Aukstikalnis, Department of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Lithuania. Keywords: infants, congenital torticollis, motor development. The aim of research work: To systematically review existing research on the impact of congenital torticollis on infant motor development to identify potential risk factors for developmental delays. Tasks of work: 1. To investigate the impact of congenital torticollis on the motor developmental milestones of infants; 2. To identify common motor development delays associated with congenital torticollis; 3. To assess the effectiveness of early diagnosis and different intervention methods by calculating the effect sizes of the methods used in the analyzed studies. 4. To determine how subtypes of congenital torticollis are defined differently in analyzed studies and whether they are considered as one clinical term. Materials and methods: Articles were selected from PubMed and ISI Web Of Science databases, according to keywords and criteria identifying the topic of the paper. The selection scheme was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. Results: An analysis of 6 scientific sources showed that congenital torticollis is often associated with secondary pathologies such as plagiocephaly, hip dysplasia or other musculoskeletal deformities. The association of plagiocephaly and congenital torticollis in motor developmental delay was confirmed by studies conducted by Park (2024), Kim (2020) and Watember (2016), which showed statistically significant results. The results of these studies indicate that the most common motor developmental delays are found in the functional activities of infant head, lying on the tummy, and rolling. Interventions such as perception-action approach (P-AA) and neural and visceral manipulation were effective in improving infants' motor development without inducing a negative psycho-emotional state. Conclusions: 1. Studies show that congenital torticollis adversely affects infants' motor development. Damage to the sternocleidomastoid muscle on one side of the head results in impaired neck range of motion, asymmetrical posture and uneven body control, leading to delays in the early stages of motor development, such as control of the head and turning. Congenital torticollis is also characterised by secondary pathologies such as plagiocephaly, hip dysplasia and musculoskeletal deformities, which also adversely affect the infant's motor development. 2. It has been shown that congenital torticollis, due to unequal neck amplitudes, dominance of one side of the neck and asymmetry of posture, is the most common cause of impaired motor development in infants: functional head control, ability to cross the midline, lying on the stomach, and rolling over supine to prone position. 3. The results show that early physiotherapeutic intervention helps to improve infants' movement patterns, which helps to prevent significant motor developmental delays. The two studies analysed, which applied the Perception-Action Approach (P-AA) and neuro-visceral manipulation in addition to traditional physiotherapy, showed that the effect sizes of these intervention methods were moderate to large. In addition to higher treatment effect sizes, the treatment groups had better psychoemotional outcomes for infants, suggesting that the P-AA approach and the neural and visceral manipulations prevented therapy-related negative emotions. |
