Manipulative therapies for infantile colic

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Evidence-Based Practice

Background:

• Infantile colic affects approximately 16% of families, incurring significant healthcare costs and potential long-term sequelae for infants and parents.
• Manipulative therapies, including chiropractic and osteopathy, are proposed interventions for reducing infantile colic symptoms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of manipulative therapies (chiropractic, osteopathy, cranial manipulation) for infantile colic in infants under six months.
• To synthesize evidence from randomized controlled trials on manipulative therapies for infant colic.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive database searches were conducted across multiple scientific and clinical trial registries.
• Randomized trials comparing manipulative therapies (alone or combined) against controls for infantile colic were included.
• Study eligibility, data extraction, and risk of bias assessments were performed independently by multiple reviewers.

Main Results:

• Five of six included studies suggested a beneficial effect of manipulative therapies on infantile colic.
• Meta-analysis indicated a statistically significant reduction in daily crying time (1 hour 12 minutes) with manipulative therapies.
• Clinical significance was suggested by a higher proportion of parents reporting improvement, but results were not significant when controlling for performance bias.

Conclusions:

• Small study size and methodological biases (particularly performance bias) limit definitive conclusions on the effectiveness of manipulative therapies for infantile colic.
• While some studies suggest reduced crying and clinically significant improvements, the lack of blinding in most trials necessitates further high-quality research.
• Insufficient data exists to draw firm conclusions regarding the safety of manipulative therapies for infantile colic.