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The natural history of torticollis related to anomalies of the sternomastoid muscle has been carefully studied in a group of 130 infants and children followed for a seven-year period. The final outcome of the disorder cannot be accurately ascertained in most of these patients, since they have not completed their growth. However, enough information has been obtained to make Torticollis in Infancy and Childhood by Peter G. Jones a valuable monograph.
The first two chapters contain useful information on the history and medical literature on the subject and on the comparative anatomy, embryology, nerve supply, and gross anatomy of the sternocleidomastoid muscle.
The clinical material is classified into the following four groups: (1) sternomastoid tumors; (2) sternomastoid fibrosis without tumor; (3) torticollis in older children; and (4) syndrome of asymmetry. The relationships of these groups are studied. A sternomastoid tumor is an apparently localized phenomenon arising in a muscle generally