Chiropractic and Infantile Colic

Since its inception in 1895, members of the chiropractic profession have been making what have seemed to some to be far-fetched and extreme claims of its results. The profession has taken more than its share of criticism from mainstream medicine, which too often seems mired in self-interest and ultra-conservative attitudes.

As the chiropractic profession grew slowly in the first half of the twentieth century and with exponential rapidity in the mid-sixties, research, and critical thinking have grown as well. Now some of the original claims, which seemed so fantastic years ago, are being investigated. I'd like to report on one such investigation.

Infantile Colic - The Screaming Baby Syndrome

Very early in my practice life I was presented with 2 overwrought parents carrying a 6 week old baby, none of whom had had a good night's sleep in 4 weeks. Having heard in college that we could help and having ascertained that all other methods had failed the baby, I agreed to try. While remaining confident on the outside, I had grave doubts privately. The situation seemed so desperate, the infant so tiny, my hands so big, and the parents so hopeful that I gave it my best.

Lo and behold, the baby responded faster and more completely than either the parents or myself dared to hope. A sound night's sleep that night and the next, with crying spells in the evening reduced by 50%. I was afraid to touch the baby again for fear of altering the result, but within a week the tiny child was sleeping eating and breathing normally and the parents were of course hugely relieved and grateful. After 27 years of practice I have enjoyed this success time and time again.

Now my experience and the claims of chiropractors for 100 years have been vindicated by a study conducted in Copenhagen, Denmark, by the National Health Service as reported in the prestigious Journal of Manipulation and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT) in October of 1999.(1999:22 (8):517-522)

The study compared the chiropractic treatment of infantile colic with the popular drug dimethicone for a period of 2 weeks. This drug is often prescribed for colic as it has been proven to decrease the build-up of foam and gas in the intestinal tract. Colic is defined as "unexplainable, uncontrolled crying in babies from 0 - 3 months old, more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week, for 3 weeks or more, usually in the afternoon or evening hours".

The results of the study were that by day 12 the dimethicone group had a reduction in colicky hours of 38%, while the chiropractic group had a reduction of 67% in colicky hours. An interesting fact of the study was that over 1/3 of the dimethicone group dropped out because of documented worsening of symptoms so that a number of the more severe cases of colic were excluded from the group. Therefore, the significant improvement in the chiropractic group is all the more impressive.

The average number of treatments given in the chiropractic group was 3.8, which confirms my own practice experience. A longer time basis and several more treatments would, I'm sure, have yielded closer to 90% results.

The findings of this study confirm an earlier research project into colic from 1985. The earlier study was conducted by a Danish researcher who holds both medical and chiropractic degrees. As a result of these studies and their positive findings, home care nurses of the National Health Service in Denmark when visiting mothers of newborns now recommend chiropractic care when they see a case of colic.

Research such as this underscores the great need in chiropractic for more examination into our claims; especially in the area of somatovisceral reflexes that cause many of the common disorders that respond so well to chiropractic adjustive therapy. Such conditions as asthma, gastric ulcers, migraine headache syndromes and even skin disorders are frequently encountered, either as a primary complaint or, more likely, as incidental symptoms, and seem to improve, often dramatically, with chiropractic treatment.

Author Contact Info: David Phillips D.C.
http://miltonchiropractic.chiroweb.com/