Frequency of Congenital Muscular Torticollis in Children

Abstract

Congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) is identified by unilateral contracture of sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM), resulting in lateral flexion of neck with rotation of chin to the opposite direction. Objective: To determine frequency of CMT in children presenting at Children Hospital, Lahore. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), Children Hospital and University of Child Health Sciences (CH & UCHS), Lahore from June 2022 to December 2022 and included 179 children who reported at Department of PM&R with CMT. The data were collected using a self-constructed Torticollis questionnaire and analyzed using International Business Machines Corporation Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 23 (IBM SPSS V-23.0). Results: Out of 179 patients, 103 (57.5%) were male and 76 (42.5%) were female. Associated problems like head tilt 102 (57.0%), rotation deficits 99 (55.3%), craniofacial asymmetry 67 (37.4%), fibrotic mass 68 (38.0%) and flat spot on either side of head 56 (31.3%) were seen. A significant association was found between age and torticollis present at birth (p-value=0.012). Conclusions: CMT is more common among children with age less than one year. Most of the cases were delivered by vaginal delivery with a history of infection and difficult delivery. It is important to investigate the long-term effects of continuing head tilt on cervical spine and secondary complications of CMT.