A new analysis of studies has found chiropractic care and other manipulative therapies can ease colic.
The review, by University of Southampton researchers, evaluated six clinical trials involving 325 infants. The findings, published in the Cochrane Library, indicated chiropractic care and other treatments reduced the number of hours colicky babies cried in five of the six studies by a significant amount.
"The majority of the included trials indicate that the parents of infants receiving manipulative therapies reported fewer hours crying per day than parents whose infants did not,” said George Lewith, a professor of health research at the University of Southampton. “This difference is statistically significant and important for those families who experience this condition. These studies show that in this small sample there were no adverse effects from using these treatments.”
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Colic is the most common complaint seen by physicians in the first 16 weeks of a child's life. It can cause great distress for parents and disrupt family life to the point that physicians often feel the need to intervene. Some studies suggest that there are longer-lasting effects on the child.
The new review shows that the gentle manipulative techniques, such as those used in osteopathy and chiropractic, safely reduces the symptoms associated with infantile colic, specifically excessive crying time.