What Is a Cranial Helmet?

Christopher Evan
2 min readMar 6, 2022

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Infants who experience flat head syndrome should be placed on their backs while sleeping. The use of a cranial helmet should be avoided unless medically indicated. The British Medical Journal published a study that hypothesized that a cranial helmet does not improve the condition of flat head syndrome. However, many medical professionals are challenging this finding. Because infants have more flattened skulls, pediatricians have long recommended that parents place their newborns on their sides to prevent SIDS.

The cranial helmet is intended to correct a problem that can occur in the cranial area. This condition occurs when the bones in the head fuse together earlier than they should. This results in a short and long skull that can hinder a child’s ability to develop a normal brain. This cranial helmet helps promote natural growth by fitting over the prominent areas of the skull. This encourages the flattened plates and soft spots in the cranial region to catch up to the rest of the skull plates.

The cranial helmet is a highly effective treatment for scaphocephaly, a congenital problem in which the bones of the head fuse prematurely. It can result in a long skull and affect the normal growth of the child’s brain. The cranial helmet stimulates the growth of the baby’s head by fitting over the prominent areas of the skull. The cranial helmet encourages the flattened plates to fill in the empty spaces and soft spots to catch up with the rest of the skull plates.

While a cranial remolding helmet can correct flat heads, it is not effective for children who are too young for this type of treatment. The use of a cranial remoldable helmet is recommended for children who have been diagnosed with brachycephaly before the age of six months. In addition to preventing flathead, the remolding method can also correct flat-headedness in children with other craniofacial deformities.

In the case of an infant, cranial helmets for infants are custom-fitted to the child’s head. A doctor may perform a cranial scan on the baby’s head, or the cranial helmet can be fitted through other methods. There are several different designs of a cranial helmet, which may be shaped to fit the child’s head in the best way. A plagiocephaly helmet that fits a baby’s skull will be customized to fit the child’s needs.

You can get additional details by checking out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiocephaly

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