Colic is defined by Stedman's Medical
Dictionary as "Spasmodic pains in the abdomen. In young
infants, paroxysms of gastrointestinal pain, with crying
and irritability"
Chiropractic: An effective "treatment" for colic:
1.
A recent Danish Study showed that of 316 infants with
colic, 94% responded to chiropractic care. The researchers
concluded that spinal manipulation "constitutes an
effective treatment of the condition"
Reference: Klougart, et al. Infantile Colic Treated by
Chiropractors: A Prospective Study of 316 Cases. Journal of
Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1989).
2.
In yet another study, involving 132 infants with colic, 91%
of parents reported improvement after chiropractic care.
Reference: Nilsson N. Infant colic and chiropractic. Eur J
Chiropr 1985;33(4): 264-5.
3. NEW STUDY...
A most recent study divided 50 infants with colic into two
groups. The first group received chiropractic for two
weeks; the second group received traditional drug treatment
(dimethicone) over the same two weeks.
Results revealed that the chiropractic group improved more
than the drug group (less hours spent crying) after the
first five days of the study. After day five, the
dimethicone group showed little or no reduction in average
colic hours per day. Specifically,
* Days 4-7: Hours of crying were reduced by a total of 2.4
hours in the chiropractic group compared with only one hour
in the drug group.
* Days 8-11: Hours of crying were reduced by 2.7 total
hours in the chiropractic group, compared with one hour in
the drug group.
Important to note that five infants in the dimethicone
group dropped out before the end of the study, described by
their patients as having "worsened" or "much worsened"
colic.
The authors suggest that if these severe cases had been
included in the results, the drug intervention would have
appeared even less effective than chiropractic for reducing
the symptoms of colic.
Reference: Wiberg JMM, Nordsteen J, Nilsson N. The
short-term effect of spinal manipulation in the treatment
of infantile colic: a randomized controlled clinical trial
with a blinded observer. Journal of Manipulative and
Physiological Therapeutics, October 1999: Vol. 22, No. 8,
pp517-22.
For more information on chiropractic care for your child,
go to icpa4kids.com
Comment:
Perhaps the success of chiropractic in something like the
above may be explained by the spinal nerve connections to
all organs of the body, as mentioned in this scientific
paper which states
there is a "connection between the abdominal pain and back
troubles", and "...stimulation of receptors in some ...
areas of the viscera (organs)might, via ... nerves to the
spinal cord, (cause) alterations of skin sensibility,
segmental spinal tenderness, & fixation of vertebrae."
(Jorgensen et al. Scand J of Gastroenterology, 25, 1990)
It seems worthwhile that children suffering from colic
should have chiropractic as an option, and have spinal
problems ruled out. What's more, It is a drug free, safe
approach.