What’s The Connection Between Tongue Tie And Torticollis?

Does your child have tongue tie or torticollis?

Or maybe they have both of these conditions at the same time.

Tongue tie and torticollis are common conditions that can affect newborns and cause speech related issues and physical imbalances.

While these are separate conditions, research suggests that there may be a connection between the two.

Learning that your child has one or both of these conditions can be an overwhelming experience.

But don’t worry, our speech therapy clinic can help.

At District Speech and Language Therapy, we offer pediatric speech therapy in Washington DC to help address any issues your child may be facing, regardless of which condition they may have.

In this article, we’re going to be taking a closer look at tongue tie and torticollis, what they are, how they can affect your child, and what possible connection may exist between the two.

What Is Tongue Tie?

This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve talked about tongue tie before.

In fact, we have gone into full detail in a previous article on speech therapy for tongue tie.

But here’s a shorter definition of tongue tie.

There’s a string of tissue that runs underneath your tongue called the lingual frenulum.

Tongue tie is a condition present at birth in which this piece of tissue is either too thick or too short and is tethered to the bottom of the mouth.

As a result, tongue tie restricts the tongue’s ability to move around.

Sometimes, tongue tie doesn’t cause significant issues.

Other times it can affect your ability to eat and swallow, as well as to speak.

The lingual frenulum typically separates from the bottom of the tongue before birth.

Tongue tie occurs when it doesn’t.

The reasons for this remain unknown.

Genetic factors and gender may play a role.

Regardless of the possible causes of tongue tie, however, it’s important to be able to identify its symptoms.

Symptoms of tongue tie in infants can include:

• Difficulty latching or being fussy when breastfeeding
• Being underweight due to feeding problems

For toddlers, you may notice your child:

• Has difficulty sticking their tongue out
• Has a heart shaped tongue when stuck out
• Has differences in their speech sound production
• Has difficulty eating
• Has reduced tongue mobility

Speech therapy can help identify if your child has tongue tie and implement a treatment plan to address any speech related issue that may be caused by their condition.

What Is Torticollis?

Likewise, we’ve talked about the details of torticollis on this site, in the past.

Take a look at our article on frequently asked questions about torticollis, to find out more.

But here’s a brief recap.

Torticollis is also known as “wry neck”.

It’s a condition that occurs when the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM), which runs from your baby’s breastbone to the back and side of their neck, becomes weakened, tight, or thickened.

This causes your baby’s head to rotate and/or tilt, resulting in a “twisted neck” where your baby’s chin tilts up and to one side.

Torticollis can develop in the womb and be present at birth.

Or it can develop over time, typically as a result of physical trauma or reduced blood supply to the neck muscles or injury to the nervous system.

But oftentimes torticollis is idiopathic, meaning that the cause is unknown.

In adults, this condition can cause severe pain and limited mobility.

In infants, however, it’s relatively easy to treat.

There are five different types of torticollis:

• Congenital muscular torticollis (CMT)
• Postural torticollis
• Spasmodic torticollis
• Acute torticollis
• Ocular torticollis

Symptoms of torticollis can include:

• A face that appears unbalanced
• Chin tilting to one side
• Swollen neck muscles
• Headaches
• Neck pain or stiffness
• Limited head mobility
• One shoulder is higher than the other
• Hearing problems
• Vision problems
• Motor skills problems

Symptoms can come on slowly and get worse over time, and may cause developmental problems.

It can lead to your child developing flat head syndrome, and delayed motor skills, speech, and cognitive development.

RELATED ARTICLE: Understanding Helmet Therapy For Plagiocephaly (Flat Head Syndrome)

Does Tongue Tie Cause Torticollis?

Tongue tie and torticollis are two separate conditions.

However, there may be a connection between the two of them.

It’s speculated that in some cases, the short or tight lingual frenulum, which causes tongue tie, can cause tension in the neck muscles.

The pressure that a short lingual frenulum can have on the neck muscles could lead to muscle spasms and tightness.

As a result, tongue tie may restrict movement in the neck muscles, which can be a contributing factor to the development of torticollis.

While this may sometimes be the case, more research is needed.

However, anecdotally, our therapy team has seen a connection between these two conditions in clinic.

The cause of torticollis in particular is still largely up for debate, so there is no definitive answer on whether or not tongue tie may have an impact on its development.

It’s important to keep in mind that whether or not these two conditions have a connection to each other, they can still both be present in a child at the same time.

RELATED ARTICLE: How Can Physical Therapy Help With Tongue Tie?

What To Do If Your Baby Has Tongue Tie And Torticollis?

If your child has tongue tie and torticollis, pediatric speech and physical therapy can help.

Treatment plans for tongue tie and torticollis will depend on your child’s particular needs.

In some cases, a frenotomy or frenectomy is needed to release the frenulum and restore the tongue’s mobility.

This may also relieve tension from the neck muscles and improve mobility.

Speech therapy for tongue tie can help children explore muscle movements and speech sounds that are challenging and address the problem.

Additionally, if your child has had a frenotomy, a speech therapist can help strengthen their speech muscles and improve their speech sound production ability.

For torticollis, pediatric physical therapy is the primary treatment.

At District Speech and Language Therapy, we offer pediatric speech therapy for tongue tie and collaborate with a local pediatric physical therapist for torticollis, to provide complementary treatment solutions.

Pediatric physical therapy for torticollis can include:

• Strengthening exercises for your baby’s neck and back muscles
• Gentle stretches of your baby’s neck and back muscles
• Gentle massages of your baby’s neck and back muscles
• Guiding them into a proper posture
• Teaching you at home exercises you can implement to help your baby

There are many different exercises that your child may be encouraged to perform in order to encourage movement and muscle development.

If your child has tongue tie and torticollis, early intervention therapy is crucial to addressing their issues early on and getting their development back on track.

Book Your Appointment With Our Speech Therapy Clinic Today

Are you worried that your child’s development is being affected by a tongue tie or torticollis?

Whether they have one or both of these conditions, we can help.

At District Speech and Language Therapy we offer speech and language therapy and other integrative pediatric developmental therapy solutions to help your child overcome their challenges.

Our therapists will devise a personalized treatment plan designed to address your child’s specific challenges.

Book your appointment with us today, to get started.