INFANT CERVICAL COSTAL SYNDROME ( NECK-RIB-ARM)

I have had more recently the pleasure of working in close collaboration with craniosacral therapists that specialize in pediatric and infant care. It's a highly symbiotic clinical relationship, that allows to get the best outcome if both parties can properly assess and address the problems in our little humans. More recently, I've had a few referrals for evaluation of infants with persistent delayed milestones, general positional discomfort and irritability on very young children, where the therapist indicated to me that the shoulder was the source of continued relapses.

Neuromusculoskeletal pediatric providers normally do a pretty good job at assessing cervical related birth insults, such as torticollis, however there is a particular type of birth related injury that often goes unrecognized, much less untreated, even in our profession and beyond. There is not a classic clinical textbook to describe the finding below, but in my own notetaking system, I have dubbed it "cervical costal clavicular injury".

The anatomy of the anterior neck and shoulder girdle in infant is ultimately not all that different of that from adults, with the exception that the bony structures are not fully ossified, and that the clavicle in particular is very malleable, allowing for distortion and occasional green stick fractures so that a child can survive birth if they have large shoulders. The purpose of this blog is not to review the rather complicated anatomical path that an infant has to traversed during birthing, through the maternal pelvis, but rather to pinpoint this particular problem, it's presentation and its corrective intervention.

Once the infant's head has cleared the maternal pelvic floor, the shoulders are next, and the shoulders are typically going to be broader. So there could be a delay of multiple pushes between the head and shoulder delivery. This is a particularly vulnerable time for torsional extension and traction injuries in the area of the junction of the neck and the shoulder girdle. Depending upon the position of the head in relationship to the torso, the cervical spine could already be in pretty significant lateral flexion and rotation. The point of failure so to speak, could be in the cervical spine, but in many cases it's going to be in the shoulder girdle, and especially in the anterior part of the shoulder girdle, where the anterior neck meets the sterno-clavicular joint (the joint between the clavicle and the breastbone), as well as the area of the first rib, just posterior to the clavicle, and connected to the neck through anterior cervical muscles called the scalenes. The cervical costal clavicular insults can happen even when there's no overt history of shoulder dystocia during delivery, it can happen simply with a couple really hard pushes between the head and shoulder delivery, and may not be recalled by the parents or birth attendant at the time when I take a history on the infant.

The result can be a pretty significant misalignment and impingement between the first rib, the clavicle, and sometimes the brachial plexus (the nerve bundle exiting the front of the cervical spine to go into the arm). As a result, the infant will often exhibit the following:

– being very uncomfortable being held against her chest and only being able to face apparent with their head in one direction. The parent may also notice that one arm feels very stiff and pushing back against the chest when they're holding the child facing them

– generally being fussy uncomfortable especially being held facing the parent, or in the prone position, since it causes pressure on the affected shoulder girdle.

– Having some difficulty comfortably turning their head in both directions equally, not being able to nurse well on both sides (although that's a finding that overlap significantly with cervical problems)

– being very uncomfortable and crying if their head is moved away from the affected side, usually because it increased the amount of pinching and impingement between the first rib in the clavicle, or increases pressure and traction under brachial plexus.

– Having some difficulty propping themselves up on their arm in the prone position, crying when put on the stomach, and some delay in normally propping themselves up in the stomach lying position. This may be especially noticed on one side more than the other

– delayed in rolling over, especially on one side, since you need to have adequate integrity of the anterior shoulder girdle in order to do so.

– Sometimes difficulty with suckling, with the sensation of a really tight jaw on one side. (Moms will often notice that the jaw tends to go sideways with a harsh latch, since the anterior neck muscles connected to the root of the tongue)

– significant differences between position and use of one arm versus the left. Very often the presentation is that of the "T Rex arm", where the infant will hold their affected arm closer to their breastbone and less likely to extend it or relax it normally

The chiropractic intervention for this problem requires a careful examination of the child cervical spine, as well as the entire shoulder girdle, sternoclavicular, first rib, anterior cervical, and mid cervical spine. The corrective adjustments are really quite different than the cervical adjustments, and to require very specifically correcting the relationship between the first rib the clavicle and sometimes amid cervical spine, in order to achieve normal mobility of the sternoclavicular joint, normal brachial plexus integrity and movement at the outlet from the cervical spine. The good news about the treatment is that it's usually remarkably quick, with changes in arm and neck movement and position, within one or two treatments. There may need to to be a few more treatments to stabilize the situation away from rebound, especially if the problem has been there for more than four weeks, but it's not unusual for a child to suddenly start rolling over for the first time within two days of the first treatment.

What are Modic type 1 and 2 changes on spine MRI?

Recently I've been looking at a lot of MRIs with patients, trying to go through each line of the report and make sense of the medical jargon. One term that seems to be completely foreign to most patients is the mention of Modic type I and Modic type II changes.

Modic changes refer to some abnormal signal on the bone marrow of the vertebrae adjacent to a spinal disc. They look like abnormal coloring on the top and bottom of the vertebrae. They represent some changes in the normal bone and bone marrow with some infiltration of inflammatory cells, edema. Modic changes are the reflection of the severity and active nature of degenerative changes of the vertebral segment, where the disc degeneration starts to progress to the point of involving the adjacent bone. Modic type I changes are acute, fresh, active, and almost always correlated with active bone pain, whereas Modic type II changes are more of the chronic, potentially non-symptomatic scar tissue of a previous acute episode. The importance of noting those on an MRI is that they tend to be much more correlated with active pain than certain disc changes, especially disc bulges, which can be found at a high prevalence level in the general population but can be completely asymptomatic.

You have to remember that MRI images are extraordinary at giving you a lot of information, including pretty much everything that's ever happened to you but doesn't help you differentiate what's relevant to your particular current complaint. The presence of Modic changes, especially type I Modic changes, can help you differentiate between background degenerative findings versus an active problem. How you treat Modic one changes is more complicated than the intent of this short blog, but does need to get to the root of the mechanical stress to the affected segment and sometimes involve oral supplemental anti-inflammatory control, whether pharmacological or botanical.

Cat and Cow 2.0: expanded version of a classic

This is an expanded version of the traditional cat and cow active range of motion stretch that incorporates a full child's pose and an upward dog for better lumbosacral decompression as well as anterior hip flexor lengthening. I would not recommend this for a beginner or someone with an acute injury at the onset of their recovery and rehabilitation, however it becomes a very useful tool to maximize your stretch once you are a little further along.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdrcTyjU0vM

FATS: the good, the bad and the ugly

https://www.rupahealth.com/the-root-cause-medicine-podcast/the-truth-about-seed-oils-and-how-to-avoid-them

I have wanted to post information about good versus bad fats for a while, but struggling to write a clear blog or connecting with the right, scientifically based and patient friendly resources. So I was really excited to come across this blog in the root cause medicine podcast. The DrCate website was just what you need: clear information, validated, and very practical in directing patients to know what to use in the pantry and what ingredients to look for on labels.

The topic of good and bad fats is incredibly relevant not just for metabolic syndrome and lipid profile. It's extremely important in managing chronic inflammation, and its even more important in understanding oxidative stress in the body. The majority of oils and fats in food preparation are highly unstable and oxidize quickly. It's often a source of oxidative stress that's overlooked and no amount of "super antioxidant foods" is going to make up for their continuous toxicity to our health.

https://drcate.com/list-of-good-fats-and-oils-versus-bad/

Rethinking the toebox

I always have great intentions to put myself a calendar reminder when it's time to replace my work shoes, and inevitably the reminder flashes and goes in the midst of a busy storm and is forgotten. Until my footsies starts barking up about new shoes, a reminder that is harder to ignore.

This most recent swapping of the footwear was an opportunity to think a little more intentionally about optimal footwear that is truly designed for the human foot. It's the subject of millions of blogs and discussion posts, and quite a bit of research too. But in the end, there is still not a great consensus and still several opposing camps when it comes to supportive versus minimalist shoes for example. The purpose of this discussion is not to weigh in on this debate, which I think needs to be nuanced and little more individualized based on the terrain you walk on,existing foot stability and injuries However one area that is pretty universally agreed upon is the fact that the shape of the toebox needs to be matching the shape of the forefoot, which in most people is going to be quite a bit wider than the heel.

During 1 of my recent tango dancing trip out of state, I was surprised to see how many female dancers had switched from the traditionally extremely aesthetically pleasing high heel ritzy shoes to very plain looking flats with an anatomically correct wide toebox. It was a little odd to see the combination of the elegant silk dresses with the type of shoe you more traditionally associate with a long dog walk on a trail, but in the end, that new trend is here to stay and none of the dancers I talked to are ever going back. Nor should they. From a biomechanical and functional standpoint, the ability of the front of your foot to have adequate space for every joint of your metatarsals and toes to properly articulate during the gait cycle is a total no-brainer. It allows normal kinetic chain muscular activation in the lower extremity all the way to the trunk, something that should be remembered in cases of chronic lower back and hip discomfort during walking. There is even evidence based on pediatric studies that wide toebox shoes result in better concentration and cognitive processing in children. Probably the reason why many children with no divergence tend to instinctively go barefoot the majority of the time.

The photo attached shows on one side more traditional shoe and a wide toebox with my barefoot in between (. I should have remembered to get a pedicure before the photo..). My foot is not much different than the average foot and you can clearly say how much wider my toes are than the shape of the shoe on the right side, almost identically matching the shape of the shoe on the left. Going forward, I am slowly replacing all of the shoes in which I spend any meaningful amount of time with something that looks more anatomic correct at the front, and I invite you to do the same. The number of shoe vendors who are starting to redesign the shoes accordingly is increasing, with a greater variety of styles available. It is taking all of us a little bit to get used to the new look of our shoes, but about 100 years ago, the world suddenly got used to seeing women with normal size waists after most of them exited their corsets, and the world has been a better place for all of us as a result. So let your toes shed their "corset" and enjoy some much deserved freedom.

FINALLY ! REVAMPED SENSIBLE NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES

After many years of often biased and poorly data driven debate on the animal versus non animal product composition of the optimal human diet I welcome this latest piece of research consensus out of the Brussels University. The data they used to come to their recommendation is really quite solid.

The take away message is that after many years of being vilified, animal products are now recognized for their value in the human diet because of the nutrient density of certain hard to get nutrients. This would include things like certain essential amino acids, certain minerals like iron zinc, certain essential fatty acids and many more. While some non animal products may contain many of these nutrients, they are often not bioavailable to humans because our digestive tract is different from animals who can easily extract them (Think of a cow’s ability to extract essential fatty acids from grass that goes right through a human digestive tract).

The recommendation is for approximately one third of human calories to come from animal sources in order to ensure adequate essential nutrient intake. It does not discount the fact that plants and non-animal products still have a very important role in the human diet obviously, but they need to be eaten in combination with animal products for optimal results. Interesting piece of information buried within the long consensus paper was that the risk of obesity with strict vegan diet may increase, since the body will continue to upregulate the eating reflex until the minimum intake of certain key nutrients, especially essential amino acids, has been met. This would mean that someone’s hunger reflex would continue to drive food seeking behaviors until they have eaten 3000 calories on a vegan diet to obtain the same amount of amino acids that would be obtained after 1800 calories of a mixed animal vegan diet.

As always, the quality of the animal product needs to be emphasized in the context of an omnivore diet. Thankfully we live in an area where properly raised animal products are relatively easy to come by.

https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/a-new-perspective-on-healthy-eating/?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%20-%20Chris%20Kresser%20General%20News%29%20Chris%27s%20Friday%20Favorites%20%28LINKS%20FIXED%29&utm_term=new%20dietary%20framework&utm_content=new%20dietary%20framework&_kx=ZpXBDTeEF9QJhwDqQXXrImrT_HpFsBz1ZlYMbsx_Vq0.my75y6

Cervical core strength

When discussing core strength and stability training, we often focus exclusively on the trunk and lumbar spine, while forgetting the cervical spine. This does not do us justice since cervical core strength is equally important, possibly more so since our modern sedentary lifestyle tend to deactivate a lot of our stabilizing postural muscles from the shoulder girdle up to the head. It should be noted that cervical strength and stability also depends a lot on the overall strength and stability of the trunk and upper extremity especially, so any attempt to stabilize the cervical spine from chronic reinjury does need to involve some shoulder strength training for sure. However this relatively simple exercise done in the supine position can be very powerful in engaging the deep cervical core muscle group, which is the equivalent of the deep abdominal group in the lumbar spine. Most patients are surprised to find out how really weak this muscle group is when we test them in the office. It will often require patients to start with relatively short interval of times in order to practice the exercise and stable form. It's also important for patients to have a slight chin tucked, imagining holding a tennis ball or an orange between their chin and the chest, in order to gauge the deep cervical muscles and other superficial muscles like the SCM.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VR8uic1-0N4