Abstract

Introduction: positional plagiocephaly is a pathology whose signs are cranial asymmetry caused by flattening one or both sides of the occiput, causing anterior displacement of the ear and cheekbone on the affected side, causing aesthetic or developmental problems. Objectives: to verify the existence in the published literature of evidence on the effectiveness of physiotherapy in the treatment of this pathology, and to determine if the use of this therapy offers better results than other treatments. Material and method: we searched the Pubmed, PEDro, ScienceDirect and Cochrane databases for studies on the physiotherapeutic treatment of positional plagiocephaly. Inclusion criteria: human studies with persons suffering from positional plagiocephaly that address the physiotherapeutic treatment, studies in english, spanish and french published in the last 10 years and in the designs of the studies, systematic reviews of clinical trials and experimental studies (PEDro scale score greater than 5 for randomized clinical trials). Results: of the 358 articles, 325 were excluded according to established criteria. Of the 33 articles included, 19 were eliminated because duplicates appeared and 3 because they were protocols of care. We included 11 studies: 5 systematic reviews, 4 randomized clinical trials and 2 prospective clinical trials. Conclusion: physiotherapy is an effective treatment for mild and even moderate positional plagiocephaly if it is accompanied by repositioning techniques and, in the case of severe plagiocephaly, treatment with cranial orthoses is indicated.