Infant Cranial Deformity: Cranial Helmet Therapy or Physiotherapy?

Objective

To compare cranial helmet therapy (CHT) and physiotherapy (PT) for the effective treatment of positional plagiocephaly in infants in terms of improving functional recovery.

Methods

This was a prospective cohort study involving 48 infants between 5-10 months of age with cranial deformities. The Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index (CVAI) and the Brunet-Lezine scale were calculated at the initiation of the study and after 40 treatment sessions.

Results

The infants' first assessment showed a delay in overall development areas with a global developmental quotient (DQ) (posture, coordination, sociability, and language) of 80.15. Although developmental improvements were observed in both groups in the Brunet-Lezine scale after treatment, the MANCOVA test showed no significant differences (F(5) = 0.82, p = 0.506, eta2 = 0.09). The CVAI reduced to 4.07% during the final evaluation in the cranial helmet group and 5.85% in the physiotherapy group without any significant differences between the two therapies (p = 0.70).

Conclusions

No statistically significant differences were found between CHT and PT. After treatment, improvements from baseline measurements were observed in each of the readings of cranial deformity.