CRANIAL ORTHOSIS FOR PREVENTING POSITIONAL PLAGIOCEPHALY IN INFANTS

摘要

A cranial orthosis (10) is contoured to match the curvature of an infant's cranial vault (22) to provide protection against the acquisition of postural cranial deformities (F) as a result of the infant's sleeping in the supine position. The orthosis is a molded plastic appliance (10) in the form of a shell, headband or helmet having interior surfaces that are smoothly contoured to conform in shape to surface curvature of the occipital (24), temporal (26), parietal (28) and frontal (30) bone areas of a healthy human infant having normal cranium size, shape and symmetry. The cavity (44) of the orthosis (10) forms a protective pocket that is sized to provide a close, non-interfering fit of the conformed interior surfaces (42) in facing relation to the infant's cranial areas, thereby allowing the infant's head weight forces to spread substantially uniformly across one or more of the conformed interior surfaces while the infant is resting on a sleep surface in the supine position.