doc band

okay so my twin b caden has been going to theropy for a tight muscle in his neck.. the theropist says he needs a doc band due to the shape of his head from the muscle in his neck. his neck is fine now. the ? i have is we have been tryin to round up the money for the band b/c insurance wont cover it. but he seen his pedi. 2 day and he says no he doesnt need the doc band and hes almost 8mths old so its too late anyways.. im at a loss what to do. do i listen the his theropist or pedi???

 

okay so my twin b caden has been going to theropy for a tight muscle in his neck.. the theropist says he needs a doc band due to the shape of his head from the muscle in his neck. his neck is fine now. the ? i have is we have been tryin to round up the money for the band b/c insurance wont cover it. but he seen his pedi. 2 day and he says no he doesnt need the doc band and hes almost 8mths old so its too late anyways.. im at a loss what to do. do i listen the his theropist or pedi???

 

My ped had told me that at 4 months my daughters head would round out as she got older but I requested a second opinion and they made a big deal about it so I switched peds. The new ped sent us for a referral and the specialist said that she needed a helmet to help shape her head since it was very flat on one side and she would only sleep on that side.

She got the helmet at 6 months which he said was in the time frame but that after 12 months the head was already pretty much formed. You still have time to get the helmet and I am amazed at how fast the helmet shows results. I think that some peds just don't know what they talk about and you have to do what you think is best for your child. I am so glad that I did not listen to the Ped because I believe that my daughter's head would never have rounded out.

My insurance had also denied the helmet and it was going to cost us $2500.00. They denied it because they said it was not a covered benefit. I reviewed our policy and it did state it was covered but had to be approved. I filed a grievance and after 3 weeks they overturned it and are now going to pay the full $2500.00. I would recheck your benefits just in case to make sure.

 

just a quick statement...i agree that all peds are NOT trained enough in knowing about this. If you are concerned, definately go with your instinct.

 

I would recommend seeing a specialist and getting a measurement. What you want to know is the difference between the roundest part and the flattest part. For a point of reference, our insurance covered anything 11mm or over.

ETA: Age will start becoming a factor if treatment is needed but if you get the ball rolling now and if treatment is needed there is still a fairly large window for correction at that age.

 

I think you are speaking of something different than the helmet?? My twins both have torticollis, but one of them also has a tight muscle in her neck. We went to PT 4 times, and both went from 60% to less than 10%. The therapist mentioned that there is something for the neck muscle, but in her years as a therapist, she does not think they are worth the money (nor did she feel that my dd needed it). Also, from what I have read, what my pedi says, and what the therapist says...it has to be really drastic for a helmet- most heads will improve on their own given time...and taking care of the tight muscle through PT will help your twins move their heads around, thus not sleeping on that side. (My twins have bald spots because they would not move their heads to one side, and now they have little prickly hairs coming in- in less than a month since starting PT.)

 

we had got a mesaurment and it os 11mm. im just not sure what to do now, is 8 mths too late if i do deciede to do this??? i am so stressed out with all that is going on and this on top of it. it just feels like i have this huge weight on my shoulder god when will that weight go away?! i just wake up in the morning stressted out about EVERYTHING... now this is wrong with my baby and i dunno what to do for him... im sorry guys i just needed to vent a little..

 

thank all of u for ur help. i deciede what i needed to do.

 

We started the helmets at 7.5 months and have seen improvement. Our babies were preemies and just were not moving around or sitting up, or rolling until late, so I didn't think the heads could improve by themselves since they were still laying on them.

You do have to act fast, the growth spurts are what help reshape the head.

A study I did see showed that at I think age 3, only 3% of kids had flat spots. At 4 months, around 20% of kids had flat spots. So that means the majority of the time, the flat does resolve without treatment. We just didn't want to chance it.