![]() He said the vast majority of the 3,500 cases brought to the company's UK clinics over the five years since they opened had been self-referrals, because the NHS was refusing to tell people that helmets were an option. Asked about testing, he said doctors had refused his request to put up a control group with which he could compare his results. Stephen Mottram, a clinical specialist orthotist for Ossur, the company behind Technology in Motion, said that while the Dutch health service approved the helmet and one in 70 children used it, the attitude of UK doctors was "very sniffy". The impression we are left with is that families are being exploited by the need for perfection." "If you are going to do something as aggressive as putting a child in a helmet for 23 hours a day, and mould the shape of its skull, then you ought to be sure there's a good reason. "There were no randomised control trials," he said. Last year Dr Ian Wacogne, a consultant in general paediatrics and clinical director at Birmingham Children's Hospital, looked into evidence surrounding the use of helmets. ![]() "No one has investigated the potential downsides on other aspects of a baby's development either – one can't assume that orthotic devices such as these come without unintended consequences." Dr Martin Ward-Platt, a consultant paediatrician at Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, said: "Flattened heads get better by themselves, and the makers of helmets prey on the anxieties of mothers, society's focus on perfection, and the lack of any proper trial of the devices (which would almost certainly show they have no added value)." No control trialsīut paediatricians say there is no proof they work and that companies are taking advantage of parents' desire to do the best for their children. Online parenting forums contain the testimonies of many who say their children have been cured by the devices, worn 23 hours a day for up to 12 months. Advice on repositioning only came up when they Googled flat head syndrome, along with details of clinics offering to sort it out.Ĭonsultations and the production of a bespoke helmet cost around £2,000, and parents of affected children are scrimping and holding fundraisers to raise the money. She said none of the eight parenting books they owned mentioned anything on avoiding the problem, and they were given no guidance by health visitors. "Kids have a tough time when they go to school even without this type of problem it just wasn't worth not doing." "Once you've seen a 3-D picture of your child's head and it looks all out of shape, you want to do anything you can to right it," Gibb said. When the results came back it was suggested they buy a helmet. However, the Gibbs remained uneasy and some research online led them to the Technology in Motion clinic in Wimbledon where Laurence had an examination and 3-D scan. She said it was very common and that it would right itself and that was that." "We went to see the GP but she didn't even touch his head. "One side of his face was bigger than the other, one eye was bulging out and his ears were out of sync," she said. Claire Gibb started to be concerned about her son Laurence when he was four months old.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |