Exploring the impact of osteopathic treatment on cranial asymmetries associated with nonsynostotic plagiocephaly in infants.

OBJECTIVES To document the evolution of cranial asymmetries in infants with signs of nonsynostotic occipital plagiocephaly (NSOP) who were to undergo a course of four osteopathic treatments (in addition to the standard positioning recommendations) as well as to determine the feasibility of using this methodology to conduct a randomized clinical trial investigating the impact of osteopathic intervention for infants with NSOP. DESIGN Pilot clinical standardization project using pre-post design in which 12 infants participated. Ten infants presented an initial Oblique Diameter Difference Index (ODDI) over 104% and five of them had an initial moderate to severe Cranial Vault Asymmetry (CVA) (over 12mm). INTERVENTIONS Infants received four osteopathic treatments at 2-week intervals. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Anthropometric, plagiocephalometric as well as qualitative measures were administered pre-intervention (T1), during the third treatment (T2) and two weeks after the fourth treatment (T3). RESULTS Participants showed a significant decrease in CVA (p=0.02), Skull Base Asymmetry (SBA) (p=0.01), Trans-Cranial Vault Asymmetry (TCVA) (p<0.003) between the first and third evaluations. CONCLUSIONS These clinical findings support the hypothesis that osteopathic treatments contribute to the improvement of cranial asymmetries in infants younger than 6.5 months old presenting with NSOP characteristics.