Does chiropractic spinal manipulation help infantile colic?

Date Last Updated: 08/08/06
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Treatment in brief
Spinal manipulation for infantile colic

Infantile colic
Infantile colic is typically defined as crying in healthy thriving children for at least three hours a day on at least three days a week. It typically starts in the first two weeks of life and resolves spontaneously at four to five months of age. The cause is unclear, and may include painful gut contractions or tension in the parent-child interaction. It is also suggested that colic is just the extreme end of “normal” crying. Probably there is no single cause (Sampler 2003).

Chiropractic
The word chiropractic means treatment by hand. Chiropractic therapy focuses on the relationship between the musculoskeletal system (primarily the spine) and the nervous system and how this impacts on general health. Spinal manipulation is a common feature of chiropractic (Sampler 2003) In young infants, the manipulative force is normally restricted to light pressure from one finger (Klougart 1989).

The evidence
A systematic review of four randomised controlled studies of spinal manipulation for infantile colic found no convincing evidence of a beneficial effect (CCOHTA 2003). There was evidence from three of the studies that taking a colicky infant to the chiropractor improved the symptoms of infantile colic in the view of the parents. However, in the fourth study, which was the only study in which parents were unaware of the treatment their child was having, no beneficial effect was found.

No harm was found from spinal manipulation in these studies.

For more information: http://www.bestbets.org/cgi-bin/bets.pl?record=00319

Key Message(s)

There is evidence that spinal manipulation is no more helpful than placebo for the symptoms of infantile colic	2
There is evidence that parents feel that spinal manipulation helps the symptoms of infantile colic	2
There is no evidence that spinal manipulation is unsafe	3

Key: Levels of evidence

The information in this summary was developed by assessing:
The information in this summary was developed by conducting a systematic literature search of online databases for systematic reviews and controlled studies of chiropractic for infantile colic. All the eligible studies retrieved were included in the CCOHTA systematic review, which is available in full text at http://dev.ccohta.ca/publications/pubs_search_e.cfm

Additional references

Sampler S, Lucassen P. Chiropractic for infantile colic. (Protocol) The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2003, Issue 4.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/mrwhome/106568753/HOME#contentTop

Klougart N, Nilsson N, Jacobsen J. Infantile colic treated by chiropractors: a prospective study of 316 cases. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapies; 12(4): 281-288

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