Congenital torticollis is most commonly caused by which event?

Congenital torticollis is most commonly caused by which event?

• A. Local trauma to soft tissues of the neck during delivery
• B. Neck muscle strain from sports
• C. Cervical disc herniation
• D. Meningitis

Answer: (A)

Congenital torticollis most often comes from birth-related injury to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. When this muscle is damaged during delivery, especially if the birth is difficult or breech, a hematoma can form and the muscle may fibrose and shorten over time. This causes the head to tilt toward the affected side and the chin to rotate away, sometimes with a palpable mass along the muscle. The timing at birth or in early infancy and the characteristic head position point to a perinatal soft-tissue injury as the common cause. Other options describe problems that don’t present as congenital neck muscle injury (for example, sports-related strain tends to be in older individuals with acute pain, cervical disc herniation is a spinal issue usually with radicular symptoms, and meningitis presents with fever, irritability, and neck stiffness rather than a persistent head tilt).

Congenital torticollis most often comes from birth-related injury to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. When this muscle is damaged during delivery, especially if the birth is difficult or breech, a hematoma can form and the muscle may fibrose and shorten over time. This causes the head to tilt toward the affected side and the chin to rotate away, sometimes with a palpable mass along the muscle. The timing at birth or in early infancy and the characteristic head position point to a perinatal soft-tissue injury as the common cause.

Other options describe problems that don’t present as congenital neck muscle injury (for example, sports-related strain tends to be in older individuals with acute pain, cervical disc herniation is a spinal issue usually with radicular symptoms, and meningitis presents with fever, irritability, and neck stiffness rather than a persistent head tilt).