As any new parent knows, colic is a term used to describe a condition wherein an infant cries uncontrollably and inexplicably for more than three hours per day. Colic has been widely attributed to digestive problems and indigestion, but is still not well understood–largely because the patient can’t describe his or her symptoms.
Many babies, especially those that have experienced difficult births, have distortions present in their upper spines which–while they will work themselves out over time–can cause a cascade of symptoms in their early months. Correction of these subluxations through manipulation of the upper cervical spine by a chiropractor has been shown in a 1999 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiologic Therapeutics to result in dramatically better results when treating colic than through the use of traditionally prescribed medication. While chiropractic care should not be viewed as a primary treatment for colic, if after a consultation your colicky baby proves to have a spinal distortion, chiropractic care consisting of very gentle spinal massage could provide a whole range of improvements to his or her early life.