Family Health Options Treatment and Resource Centre
133 Curtis Street St. Thomas, ON N5P 1J4 637-7778
Torticollis
Torticollis
Acute Torticollis - This type of torticollis frequently appears after a minor accident or an attack of rheumatism that causes an inflammation of the joint, or it may be the result of a blocked cervical vertebra, known as vertebral subluxation. The specific nature of your problem can be established by taking an X-ray of the neck area. Generally, it appears in the morning on awakening, or suddenly during the day following a strenuous exertion that contracts the neck muscles. People who suffer from this type of torticollis have trouble moving their heads without acute pain.
Acute torticollis may also be caused by microscopic lesions to the facets of the joints in the cervical vertebrae . The lesions produce an inflammation that irritates the nerves when a non movement provokes painful contractions in the neck muscles.
Spasmodic Torticollis - Those who suffer from spasmodic torticollis are subject to involuntary contractions of the neck muscles, which cause irrepressible rotation and tilting motions.
Torticollis is an ailment of the neck that causes muscle pain, along with twisting of the neck and tilting of the head which limits the movement.
Should torticollis be taken seriously?
Failure to treat torticollis properly can cause headaches or breathing
problems, affect your sense of balance, produce numbness in the arms, or
lead to arthritis, osteoarthritis, or other problems. It can also cause
permanent modifications to the vertebral column at the neck level and in
the surrounding muscles. Torticollis is a neuro-musculoskeletal disorder
that should indeed be taken seriously.
Your chiropractor is the best health care professional to treat any
problem related to the nervous system or the musculoskeletal system. As
long as the disorder is not genetic or infectious, the chiropractor can
intervene, since the problem is frequently a non-invasive pathology that
can be reversed quite naturally and treated without medication or surgery.
Chiropractors have undertaken four to five academic years of education
and clinical training in chiropractic schools, encompassing no less than
4,500 hours of instruction. They learn to diagnose health problems
through a combination of questionnaires, examinations and X-rays.
For those who prefer to avoid medication and surgery as much as possible,
chiropractic care is the natural choice.