Are you concerned about your little ones head shape?

Align Clinics is an independently run professional clinic based in Cardiff, Bristol and Swansea.

What Is Plagiocephaly, Brachycephaly and Flat Head Syndrome?

The term Plagiocephaly is a blanket word for covering three different types of flattening on a child’s head.
The three different types are:
•Plagiocephaly (Play-gee-o-kef-a-lee)
•Brachycephaly (Bray-key-kef-a-lee)

All three terms describe the flattening on different areas of a child’s head. Brachycephaly and Plagiocephaly are the most common, however, it is not uncommon for a child to have both Plagiocephaly and Brachycephaly together.

Plagiocephaly
Plagiocephaly describes the flattening on one side on the child’s head. This type of flattening is commonly associated with a parallelogram shaped head, a shift forward of the ear and a more prominent forehead on the same side as the flattening and possibly the eyes appearing to have unequal positioning.

Brachycephaly
Brachycephaly describes a flattening across the back of a child’s head. This type of flattening is commonly associated with a loss of definition of the neck line, a wide head shape, prominent bony lumps above the ears, a bossed / protruding forehead and possibly an excessively high height of head.

What is the Helmet / Band Treatment?
Helmet treatment is where a child friendly customised helmet channels the growth of a baby’s head into the flattened areas, therefore, reducing and correcting the flattening.

The state of the art scan allows for the manufacture of a custom helmet to individually fit each baby. Inside the helmet there will be holding points over the areas of the skull which are to be held and voided areas corresponding to where the flattening is.

This allows all the baby’s head growth to be channeled into the voided areas correcting the asymmetry and flattening.

The misconception is that the helmet puts pressure onto one part and pushes the skull into the flattened areas. This is certainly not correct. It literally holds the babies head to the exact shape from the 3D scan and allows the skull to grow at the baby’s own rate into the voided areas without any pressure.

I (Lisa) am the lead Clinical Specialist and have worked with children since 2001 and specifically in the field of Cranial Head Remoulding since 2007. I have successfully treated hundreds of babies with this condition with a varied of treatment options. Being a fully qualified Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist, I can treat using a variety of methods such as repositioning techniques and advice, product advice, physiotherapy exercises and stretches right through to the helmet treatment.

I am a very professional, caring person and a Mum myself, so I understand the emotions involved when dealing with your children. As I am self employed and not governed by a large company, I pride myself and enjoy spending quality time with families in explaining and getting to know each family as individuals.

I work alongside three charities in offering free consultations in raising awareness of flat head syndrome and the helmet treatment available, so if you would like to discuss any of the treatment options, get a firm medical objective diagnoses of your little ones head shape, or if you would just like to chat to someone on the end of a phone please let me know.

Please have a look at my Website or Facebook page for more information: AlignClinics.