Wryneck or torticollis disorder

Wryneck or torticollis disorder

Wryneck or torticollis is a disorder that results in limited motion of the cervical spine, causing the head to remain in a tilted position. Babies can have a neck stuck to one side from birth trauma. Adults usually experience this upon awakening in the morning after a poor sleep. Torticollis involves muscular, skeletal, or neurologic abnormalities. Some common names for torticollis include the wry skeletal neck, congenital wry neck, cock robin deformity, and Sandifer’s syndrome. There are two types of torticollis — acquired or congenital muscular torticollis.

The most common cause of torticollis or wry neck is a misalignment of the first and second joint. Congenital muscular torticollis, on the other hand, develops early in the life of a child. Patients with torticollis often have trauma to the cervical spine due to the high incidence of breech birth. The classic physical finding in torticollis is the tilting of the head to one side, resulting in a limited range of motion.

The head is tilted to one side away from the pain. Some patients can feel on their neck a mass or lump that is often a contracted sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle. A common complaint is neck pain. Adult patients may also complain of occipital pain, vertigo, and dizziness. Contracture of the SCM muscle is another common cause of congenital muscular torticollis; the tissue may eventually become fibrotic.

The most common bony abnormality is atlantoaxial rotatory subluxation – rotatory displacement of C1 on C2. Treatment of torticollis, as with any disorder, depends on accurately diagnosing the exact cause of the condition first.