External cranial remolding dates back to 2000 BC. The rapidity to bring orthoses to market since the 1992 "Back to Sleep Campaign has produced many "carbon copy" designs, often sacrificing orthotic design considerations that are the specialty of orthotic professionals. Designing an orthosis requires a detailed understanding of material science and how material combinations will affect correction.External forces on the infant's skull act to compress the aspect of the skull that is in direct continuous contact with that substance while intrinsic brain growth expands the cranium laterally along the surface of contact. Turk et al. equated this to a water balloon being placed onto a rigid surface (Figure 1). External forces from the surface combined with gravity pulling the balloon downward cause compression of the contact surface producing lateral displacement of the balloon and distortion of the shape. As the balloon is further filled, it expands parallel to the contact surface.
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