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This is by far the most common question I am presented with on a daily basis, often by rather desperate parents!
It is so important to diagnose the reason your baby is crying.....Colic just means a baby that cries a lot. This is why I wrote this article for the lovely people at littlegreenehome.co.uk and for all mums and dads that want some answers!
Please follow this link and have a read!
http://blog.littlegreenhome.co.uk/2016/04/29/colic-or-reflux-an-experts-opinion/
Torticollis as I touched on in last weeks blog comes in different forms. Congentital torticollis, when you baby is born with a twisted neck and the reason may be due to his/her position in utero or a congenital deformation of the bones in the spine or a neurological problem. Congenital torticollis ought to be reviewed by a paediatrician who may chose to send a baby for x-ray or ultrasound scans to rule out any pathological or genetic reason for the torticollis.
Then there is congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) this is develops after the child's birth (usually 2-4 weeks) and involves your baby's head tilting to one side and there chin pointing to the opposite shoulder.
Many practitioners like to subdivide. This can vary but a straight forward guide increasing in severity is:
●Postural – Your baby prefers to have their head in a certain position but can happily move their head in all directions when stimulated by a toy or food etc It is also possible for you to turn your baby's head in both directions. This may be due to a flat patch on the back on the baby's head from lying in one position too long or as a result of natural birth pressures through the child's cranium.
●Muscular – This is when there is tightness in a muscle called sternocleidomastoid (see diagram) your baby cannot move their head fully round in one direction, even if you are gently aiding them. Again this could be as a result of birth strain or assisted birth e.g forceps
●Sternocleidomastoid mass – This is when there is a thickening in the belly of the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle. There is limited range of movement in your baby's neck when they try to move themselves and when they are gently aided. The mass could be due to a tumour but if detected your GP will have referred on for investigation. More likely the mass is due to a rupture (or tear) in the belly of the SCM. The tear could have occurred if the baby's shoulders were stuck and the head and neck wedged against opposing forces during birth, or from forceps/ventouse delivery.
If there is a rupture of the SCM osteopathic treatment and daily exercises for your baby are very important. There muscle looses it's elasticity because of scar tissue from the tear. Next week I will go through the excersises you can do at home with your baby and describe what osteopaths do to help aid the recovery of an SCM injury in CMT.
Just a quick Monday morning post about how real stress is. I found this wonderful TEDed video over the weekend that clearly explains what the physical effects of stress on the body are capable of. Many of my patients feel guilty about their stress levels and that all the physical pain they feel could be, 'in their head'. Knowledge is power and having a deeper understanding of the long term effects of stress might just make you reconsider ignoring those life choices you might just be putting off....
The past few weeks I have had many patients who had no idea their blood pressure was high. None of them smoke, drink heavily, nor were they over weight. The only common denominator was stress. Even more tragically a young patient was struck by a stroke out of the blue. There was absolutely nothing about his lifestyle that could have caused it. These events have prompted me to write about the importance of keeping an eye on blood pressure and knowing the signs. One day you might save a loved one or even yourself by knowing them.
High blood pressure is medically known as hypertension. It rarely has noticeable symptoms. Understanding risk factors can help as well as taking your blood pressure often (NHS guidelines are at least every 5 years) if it's something that's on your mind then you can always ask your osteopath or physiotherapist to check it if you dont have time to go to a nurse or doctor (you should always have time to do this but it's a line I hear from many of my patients!) better still buy a blood pressure monitor!
The main risk factors to be aware of are:
* Being overweight
* Someone in your family has a history of high blood pressure.
* Smoking
* Constant high levels of stress and anxiety.
* Lack of excercise (you should do something that gets you out breath for at least 20 mins a day!)
* Drinking too much alcohol
* Drinking too many caffeinated drinks such as coffee or energy drinks.
* You are aged 65 or over
* You have a high salt diet.
Most of us know this and most of us could admit that we do fall into at least one of the above categories.... Even me! Yet we do nothing because we are young, or feel fine, or think it is the kind of thing that won't happen to you.
Listen to this programme By Robert McCrum on BBC Radio 4 then read that list again. Perhaps I shan't have that glass of wine tonight after all....
This morning the results of a study on the effects of paracetamol on lower back pain were finally released. It is of no surprise to me it has been found to be ineffective. Even if a pain killer does help your pain, it isn't solving the cause of your lower back pain. After years of nagging my patients it was so good to hear a GP on BBC news talk about the benefits of treatments like Osteopathy and the importance of excercise to help cure and avoid back problems.
So to all my patients I have been nagging to get excerising and take up stretching and strengthening classes like yoga and pilates.... You've heard it from the Doctors too now!
Now is the perfect time to check out @ellaandfleurhotyoga or contact me about any worries and questions you may have about what to do next for your specific case of back pain if pain killers won't help
E: Olivia@o-osteopathy.com
Or click to read this BBC review:
Paracetamol ‘no good for back pain'
Day 1 of the paediatrics course with Sutherland Cranial College getting back to basics with embryology and "normal labour" it's incredible looking through the forces that are imposed on mother and baby. Studying this in detail helps us understand why your baby might feel unsettled and uncomfortable after birth!
As promised I got my sketch book out and have drawn a diagram......admittedly it's not going to be entered in to Greys Anatomy (the book, not the American TV series) any time soon but I think it will really help you see what's going on in your knee joint, why it hurts AND why stretching is so very important....
