Osteopathic Manual Therapy for Infant Colic: A Randomised Clinical Trial.

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Manual Therapy
• Infant Health

Background:

• Infant colic is a common condition with multifactorial causes.
• Various therapeutic approaches exist for infant colic.
• The effectiveness of osteopathic manual therapy (OMT) for infant colic requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of osteopathic manual therapy in alleviating infant colic symptoms.
• To compare OMT with standard counseling for infant colic management.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, randomized, blinded clinical trial was conducted.
• Infants diagnosed with colic were assigned to either OMT or a control group receiving counseling only.
• Statistical analysis included Mann-Whitney U and Fisher's exact tests, with a significance threshold of 0.05.

Main Results:

• The OMT group showed a trend towards less severe colic after the first session (p=0.09).
• Crying was significantly reduced in the OMT group post-intervention (p=0.03) and at two weeks (p=0.04).
• Regurgitation was significantly lower in the OMT group throughout the three-week follow-up (p=0.05).

Conclusions:

• Osteopathic manual therapy effectively alleviates key symptoms of infant colic, particularly crying and regurgitation.
• OMT can be recommended as an early-stage treatment for infant colic.
• No adverse side effects were reported in the OMT group.