Congenital Muscular Torticollis in Infants: What the Meta-Analysis Found About Conservative Treatment and What Parents Said About the Home Program

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who see infants with congenital muscular torticollis, or who counsel families referred for positional asymmetry, and who want a plain-language account of what the current evidence base contains and what parents reported about carrying out home exercises.

Licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in pediatric, outpatient, early intervention and hospital-based settings. Physical therapist assistants work under the direction of the supervising physical therapist; evaluation, diagnosis and plan-of-care decisions remain with the physical therapist.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

This course is built from two peer-reviewed papers and reports only what they contain. The first is a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized and quasi-randomized trials of non-surgical, non-pharmacological treatment for congenital muscular torticollis. The second is a qualitative interview study describing how parents perceived the home exercise program over a physical therapy episode of care. Where the two papers address different questions or reach different conclusions, each finding is attributed to the paper that reported it.

Antares JB, Jones MA, Chak NTN, Chi Y, Li H, Li M, Chan EYW, Chen TMK, Lee CMY, Urquhart DM. Efficacy of non-surgical, non-pharmacological treatments for congenital muscular torticollis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2025;26(1):178. doi:10.1186/s12891-025-08407-3

Stitt A, Operacz R. A Qualitative Investigation of Parent Perceptions of Home Exercises for Congenital Muscular Torticollis. Children (Basel). 2024;11(6). doi:10.3390/children11060689

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe what the systematic review and meta-analysis reported about adding manual therapy or electrophysical agents to an active control for infants with congenital muscular torticollis, including the direction of the pooled findings and how certain the review authors judged the evidence to be.
2. Name the three home exercises examined in the qualitative interview study and state how the parents interviewed described each one across the episode of care.
3. Explain how the treatments tested in the trials depend on what families carry out between visits, and distinguish which of the two papers reported which finding on benefit, safety, stress and adherence.

1. Start Here: Course Overview, Objectives and How to Earn Credit
2. Part One: Non-Surgical, Non-Pharmacological Treatment for Congenital Muscular Torticollis
3. Infants With Congenital Muscular Torticollis: Who the Included Trials Enrolled
4. How the Review Team Searched, Pooled and Graded the Trials
5. What the Pooled Analyses Showed for Neck Motion, Head Posture and Muscle Thickness
6. Adverse Events, Certainty of the Evidence and the Review Authors' Conclusions
7. Part Two: Parent Perceptions of the Home Exercise Program
8. The Families Interviewed and the Exercises They Were Taught
9. How the Interviews Were Conducted and Analyzed
10. Tummy Time, Cervical Rotation and Lateral Flexion in Parents' Own Words
11. Stress, Empowerment and What the Interview Study Concluded
12. Bringing It Together: Trial Evidence and the Family Carrying It Out
13. Where the Two Papers Point in the Same Direction
14. Where They Diverge, and Which Paper Reported What
15. Setting Up and Supporting a Home Program at the Treatment Table
16. What Remains Unanswered in Both Papers
17. Key Takeaways
18. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 1.0 contact hour (60 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. Antares JB, Jones MA, Chak NTN, Chi Y, Li H, Li M, Chan EYW, Chen TMK, Lee CMY, Urquhart DM. Efficacy of non-surgical, non-pharmacological treatments for congenital muscular torticollis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2025;26(1):178. doi:10.1186/s12891-025-08407-3
2. Stitt A, Operacz R. A Qualitative Investigation of Parent Perceptions of Home Exercises for Congenital Muscular Torticollis. Children (Basel). 2024;11(6). doi:10.3390/children11060689