Bedwetting Research
Case management of nocturnal enuresis Hough DW, Today’s Chiropractic July/August 2001 p. 59/66.
The author reports that usually two to three visits are required to solve bedwetting problems. He presents two case studies that are the extremes in number of adjustments.
1. Esta, a 4-year-old female, wet nearly every night. Subluxations were found at her sacrum, ilium, T3, T5 and cervical area. The next day her mother reported she was dry. She had no more problems with bedwetting from then on.
2. Aaron, a 5 year old male had pain in his feet in addition to nightly bedwetting. Subluxations were found in his sacrum, ileum, thoracic and cervical spine. In addition restrictions were found in the calcaneus vulgus of both feet.
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 bedwetting totally resolved.”
Asthma and Enuresis. Zell, P. International Chiropractic Pediatric Assn. Newsletter May/June 1998
Case report #1374
This is the case of a 7-year-old girl suffering from asthma and enuresis (bedwetting) 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. The mother reports that her daughter would cough up a ball of phlegm following each attack.
Chiropractic examination revealed vertebral subluxation at C2, T5, T12 ileum and sacrum. She improved following her first adjustment. After the 5th adjustment the asthma and bedwetting ceased and did not return.
ADD, Enuresis, Toe Walking. International Chiropractic Pediatric Association Newsletter May/June 1997. From the records of Rejeana Crystal, D.C., Hendersonville, TN.
This is the case of a six-year-old boy suffering from nightly nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting), 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 care both heels dropped 2 inches and the bedwetting frequency decreased to 2-3 times per week. His medical doctor was shocked at his recovery under chiropractic care.
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.
This was a controlled clinical trial of 46 enuretic (bedwetting) 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.
Bed-wetting; two case studies. Marko, RB Chiropractic Pediatrics Vol 1 No 1 April 1994.
Case #0991
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 #0419
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.
Functional nocturnal enuresis. Blomerth PR. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 1994:17:335-338.
This is the case of an eight-year-old male bed-wetter. 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 bedwetting 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.”
Nocturnal enuresis: treatment implication for the chiropractor. Kreitz, BG, Aker PD. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1994:17(7): 465-473.
A review of the literature of nocturnal enuresis is presented. The author states: “Spinal manipulative therapy has been shown to possess an efficacy comparable to the natural history.”
Epileptic seizures, nocturnal enuresis, ADD. Langley C. Chiropractic Pediatrics Vol 1 No. 1, April, 1994.
This is the case of an eight-year-old female with a history of epilepsy, heart murmur, hypoglycemia, nocturnal enuresis and attention deficit disorder.
The doctors told her mother that her daughter would never ride a bike or do things like normal children. She was wetting the bed every night, experiencing 10-12 seizures/day, with frequent mood swings, stomach pains and diarrhea. She was in special education classes for the learning disabled.
The child had been to five pediatricians, three neurologists and six psychiatrists. She had ten hospitalizations and had been on Depakote T, Depakene, T Tofranil T and Tegretol T.
Her birth was difficult (cesarean section under general anesthesia). Her mother was told the baby was allergic to breast milk and formulas and was on prescription feeding.
Chiropractic adjustments were to C1 and C2 three times/week. After two weeks of care, the bed-wetting began to resolve and was completely resolved after six months. During that period, her attention deficit disorder resolved and she left special education classes to enter regular fifth grade classes.
Her seizures diminished to 8-10 per week after one year of care. She was released from psychiatric care as “self managing.”
Her resistance to disease increased and she can now ride a bike, roller skate and ice skate like a normal child. She is expected to be off all medication within a month of this writing.
Chiropractic care of children with nocturnal enuresis: A prospective outcome study. LeBoeuf, C.; Brown, P; Herman, A; Leembruggen K; Walton D; Crisp TC. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1991, 14 (2), pp. 110-115.
This is the study of 171 children with a history of persistent bed-wetting at night who received eight chiropractic adjustments each.
The average number of wet nights fell from 7 per week to 4 per week. At the end of the study, 25% of the children were classified as successes
Additionally 1% of patients were considered “dry” at the beginning of the study, while 15.5% were considered “dry” at the end of the study.
Management of pediatric asthma and enuresis with probable traumatic etiology. Bachman TR, Lantz CA Proceedings of the National Conference on Chiropractic and Pediatrics (ICA), 1991: 14-22.
This is the case of a 34-month-old boy with asthma and enuresis who had not responded to medical care.
He was brought to the hospital emergency room more than 20 times for his asthma attacks during a 12-month history.
The boy received three chiropractic adjustments over an 11 day period and the asthma symptoms and enuresis ceased for more than 8 weeks.
The asthma and enuresis recurred following a minor fall from a step ladder but disappeared after adjustments. After a two-year follow-up, the mother reports no recurrence of the asthma or the enuresis.