From the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health, comes a study published on June 7, 2012 following the case of an infant with constipation being helped by chiropractic care. The authors noted that constipation accounts for 3% of visits to general pediatricians, and 25% of visits to pediatric gastroenterologists. The authors also report that an estimated 1.7 million US children suffered from constipation in a 2-year period from 2003 to 2004.
In this case, a 3 week old infant boy was brought to the chiropractor with a chief complaint of constipation. The history notes that according to his mother, her baby had bowel movements at only 2-day intervals since birth. The baby also suffered from irritability and frequent waking from sleep that was attributed to acid reflux. The boy was being breast fed, but still had the issues. The boy’s pediatrician placed the child on a nonprescription medication for the treatment of heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
A chiropractic examination was performed which included visual inspection, static and motion palpation. A determination was made that the child had subluxations at both the top and bottom of his spine. Specific chiropractic adjustments were given to initiate correction of the nerve system interference caused by the infant’s subluxations.
The results as reported in the case study noted that the infants improvement was immediate. The authors wrote, “His mother was very excited to report that her child had a bowel movement on the day following his first chiropractic adjustment and following each feeding.” The authors also recorded that, “The patient was also able to sleep longer during the night with less wake ups, crying, and general irritability.”
The study authors reviewed several other previous studies documenting chiropractic helping patients with constipation. In their conclusion they wrote, “This case report provides supporting evidence that patients with constipation may benefit from subluxation-based chiropractic care.”
