Chiropractic- the new treatment for Colic ?

New research has found Chiropractic more effective in the treatment of Colic than standard medical treatment. Generally Colic has thought to have been a condition of the gastro intestinal tract. The colicky infant has inconsolable crying and flexes his/her knees to the chest. There often is reports that the infant is very windy with tenderness over the tummy. However research has found no abnormalities in the function of the gastro intestinal tracts of infants suffering from Colic. In fact, apart from the obvious distress of the infant, they are usually otherwise very healthy in terms of normal growth and weight gain.
To parents who have had a child with Colic they will know just how stressful it can be. Often the infant may cry over 5 hours a day. And this isn't the sort of crying that can be stopped with a bottle or a soother or being cradled. When it happens it seems ceaseless. And even, tragically, it has lead to parental violence to infants. Normally the infant will grow out of it, most in the first 3 to 6 months, but some may take a year. In the mean time stress to the family and obviously to the infant can be unbearable.
This latest study compared Chiropractic treatment to that of dimethicone, a commonly used medication. Like many medications for Colic, dimethicone has been shown to be no more effective in reducing Colic than placebo.
Chiropractic is a 5 year University based degree which involves itself largely with the study of the spine and it's impact on the nervous system. Areas of the spine that "misalign" or have abnormal function can irritate the nervous system and can cause pain, among other symptoms. In Colicky infants it is thought that due to the stress on the spine from the birthing process, these abnormal areas of function in the spine (termed "subluxation" by Chiropractors) may develop and cause pain and distress to the infant. Through an assessment of the infant, the Chiropractor can detect these areas and gently restore normal movement through a number of means.
Through this latest study carried out at the University of Southern Denmark by a Chiropractor and Medical Doctor (Dr. Niels Nilsson, DC MD Ph.D.), it has been shown that this treatment does significantly reduce colic in the infant over a short period of time. In fact over two weeks the average hours of colic per day went from 5.2 hours to a little over half an hour. The infants given dimethicone had a reduction of colic no more than if there was no treatment given. Nine parents chose to drop out of this dimethicone group during treatment. Seven were contactable and said they dropped out because the felt their child was worsening. No parents dropped out of the Chiropractic group.

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