Muscle Tightness from the Inside Out
Imagine you are Alice in Wonderland for a moment. Remember the part where she shrinks very tiny, then grows very large? At one brief moment, when she gets too tall to fit in the house, her head tilts to the left and she curls her body to the side to fill any extra space in the house before she shrinks again.
This is similar to what can happen with a baby inside the womb, but a major difference is that the baby doesn’t shrink back down! Babies only continue to grow and develop. While not always what happens, this positioning of head tilted to one side, maybe looking one direction, and body curved into a C-shape is what can lead to muscle tightness throughout the body over time as the baby continues to grow to full-term.
As babies continue to grow, they can be restricted by available room which causes some muscles to develop to longer/full length and others to develop in a shorter/restricted length. While there is nothing to prevent this type of restriction from occurring, early intervention (even days after birth) can be drastically helpful in correcting muscle length differences and promoting symmetrical and equal movement throughout the body. Tight muscles typically do not stretch out on their own, and can make motor skills such as tummy time, rolling, sitting, crawling, and walking more difficult.
Signs and Symptoms of Muscle Tightness
Signs and symptoms of muscle tightness can include any of the following (and likely a combination of several of these), but is not limited to:
• Preference to look one direction
• Sleeping with head one direction only
• Head tilted one direction
• Head flatness (plagiocephaly)
• Difficulty with tummy time
• Body curved into a C-shape
• Rolling to one direction only
• Latching difficulties
• Pain with breastfeeding
• Preference to feed from one breast or only one direction on the bottle
• Using one hand more than the other
• Seeming tense or tight
How Specialized Physical Therapy Can Help
If your baby is showing signs of muscle tightness as mentione
For more information on if your baby would benefit from individualized physical therapy treatment related to feeding difficulties, feel free to reach out to us here!
Our team of clinicians are pediatric physical therapists and certified breastfeeding specialists, and we are here to help!
Year One Wellness offers virtual consultation everywhere and in-person consultations in and around Austin, TX.
