Can specific, scientific chiropractic help with bed wetting?
Study #1:
The author reports that usually two to three visits are required to solve bed wetting problems. He presents two case studies that are the extremes in number of adjustments.
- Esta, a 4-year-old female, wet nearly every night. Subluxations were found at her sacrum, ileum, T3, T5 and cervical area. She was adjusted. The next day her mother reported she was dry. She had no more problems with bed wetting from then on.
- Aaron, a 5 year old male, had pain in his feet in addition to nightly bed wetting. Subluxations were found in his sacrum, ileum, thoracic and cervical spine. Adjustments were performed. He no longer complained of foot pain and his mother reported that he was dry about half the nights since his previous visits. “Aaron required 10 more adjustments before his bed wetting totally resolved.”
Case management of nocturnal enuresis Hough DW, Today’s Chiropractic July/August 2001 p. 59/66.
Study #2:
This is the case of a 7-year-old girl suffering from asthma and enuresis (bed wetting) brought to the chiropractor by her mother. Since she was three years old, she suffered from asthma along with many attacks of colds and flu. The asthma was so severe that she was hospitalized for 3 days at one time and had gone to the emergency room another time. Chiropractic examination revealed vertebral subluxation. She improved following her first adjustment. After the 5th adjustment the asthma and bed wetting ceased and did not return.
Asthma and Enuresis. Zell, P. International Chiropractic Pediatric Assn. Newsletter May/June 1998
Study #3:
This is the case of a six-year-old boy suffering from nightly nocturnal enuresis (bed wetting), attention deficit disorder and toe walking. He walked with his heels 4 inches above the ground. The medical specialist recommended both Achilles’ tendons cut and both ankles broken to achieve normal posture and gait. Chiropractic findings included subluxation of atlas, occiput, sacrum and pelvis. After 4 weeks of chiropractic care both heels dropped 2 inches and the bed wetting frequency decreased to 2-3 times per week.
ADD, Enuresis, Toe Walking. International Chiropractic Pediatric Association Newsletter May/June 1997. From the records of Rejeana Crystal, D.C., Hendersonville, TN.
Study #4:
This was a controlled clinical trial of 46 enuretic (bed wetting) children that were placed under chiropractic care. The children were under care for a 10 week period preceded by and followed by a 2 week no treatment period.
The 46 children were divided into two groups: 31 received chiropractic care and 15 were in the control group.
At the end of the study, 25% of the treatment-group children had 50% or more reduction in the wet night frequency from baseline to post-treatment while none among the control group had such reduction.
Chiropractic management of primary nocturnal enuresis. Reed WR, Beavers S, Reddy SK, Kern G.J Manipulative Physiol Ther Vol. 17, No. 9 Nov/Dec 1994.
Study #5:
Case 1: This is the case of a five-year-old female who had been wetting her bed for six months and was prescribed antibiotics for what MDs diagnosed as a bladder infection.
After the second chiropractic adjustment, she stopped wetting her bed for three weeks. She had a bad fall and began to wet her bed again. Following her next adjustment, she has remained dry.
Case 2: This is the case of a nine-year-old male who wet his bed almost every day of his life. During his first six months of chiropractic care he would remain dry for one or two days after his adjustments. A change in adjustments to the sacrum resulted in greater improvement. He is now dry for one-half to two-thirds of the nights between the adjustments.
Bed wetting; two case studies. Marko, RB Chiropractic Pediatrics Vol 1 No 1 April 1994.
Study #6:
This is the case of an eight-year-old male struggling with bed wetting. He was adjusted once in the lumbar spine. At a one month follow-up there was complete resolution of enuresis.
The child had two wet nights following a sports accident but was adjusted and the bed wetting ceased. He had minor accidents one year and two years later, with enuresis starting again. In both instances the bed wetting ceased after adjustments.
The author remarks: “This happened in a manner that could not be attributed to time or placebo effect,” since the patient didn’t know that adjustments could affect that condition.”
Functional nocturnal enuresis. Blomerth PR. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 1994:17:335-338.
Study #7:
This is the case of a 14-year-old male with a long history of continuous bed wetting. He never had a dry night in his life. The bell and pad method was tried but did not help.
Improvement began after the first adjustment. Over the next 21 days, he had 15 nights of dry bed and 6 damp nights, but not wet nights.
He continued to have dry, damp and wet nights. His condition was alleviated (not completely cured) by chiropractic adjustments.
Chiropractic management of enuresis: time series descriptive design. Gemmell HA, Jacobson, BH Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 1989; 12:386-389.
Study #8:
The authors found that pediatric patients at Western States Chiropractic College public clinic commonly had complaints of ear-infection, sinus problems, allergy, bed wetting, respiratory problems, and gastro-intestinal problems.
Complete or substantial improvement of their chief complaint had been noted in 61.6% of pediatric patients, while 60.6% received “maximum” level of improvement. Only 56.7% of adult patients received “maximum” level of improvement.
Characteristics of 217 children attending a chiropractic college teaching clinic. Nyiendo J. Olsen E. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1988; 11(2):78084.