Bed wetting is a common occurrence in children. It is defined as a child over 5 years of age that wets the bed at least 2 times per week for more than 3 months and affects roughly 10% of children at 7 years of age. There are many possible causes of bed wetting such as small bladder size, hormonal imbalances, or sleeping deeply and not waking to pee. One study found 30% of children who suffered with bed wetting had involuntary bladder contractions while sleeping causing a hyperactive bladder.

Treatments are as varied as the causes. Setting alarms to regularly wake the child to pee is one option but that disrupts their sleeping patterns and can lead to irritability and tiredness during the day. Another method is to limit drinking and cease it a few hours before bed time making sure the child pees right before sleep. This can be effective and useful as long as it is not taken to the extreme causing the child to be dehydrated during the day. Some treatments even recommend antidepressants to calm the nervous system in an attempt to limit a hyperactive bladder. Many parents would chose not to give medications that could potentially cause serious side effects for a problem like bed wetting so what other options are there?

This study looked at a 10 year old boy initially brought in by his parents to the Chiropractor for neck pain. During the consultation and exam the mother brought up that he had been wetting the bed 2-3 times per week and had episodes of not being able to control his bladder during the day which he described as leaking. In the exam by the Chiropractor he was noted to have postural changes such as rotation in his pelvis and a tilt of his head along with subluxations, which are misalignments of his spine, in his neck, mid back and lower back. He started receiving Chiropractic adjustments and was monitored through the care to evaluate his neck pain and how often he wet the bed.

After his first adjustment he no longer had neck pain and only wet the bed once that week. Over the next few weeks he was adjusted once per week and varied from 2-3 nights of bed wetting to waking up dry every night. The nights he did wet the bed his mother noted he was having stress at school. After 8 weeks of treatment he only wet the bed once. So how did adjusting the spine help a problem like bed wetting?

If someone’s spine is misaligned, or subluxated as Chiropractors refer to it, it can decrease the energy flowing out of the nerves traveling from the spinal cord to whatever body part they go to. Nothing happens in our bodies without direct communication from our nervous system. In this child’s case if it were the nerves controlling the bladder that were being irritated it could cause  the bladder to be hyperactive. If the nerves that help regulate hormones were being irritated the subluxations would alter hormone levels contributing to bed wetting. The beauty of  Chiropractic adjustments is they focus on restoring normal motion and alignment to joints of the spine to reduce interference of the nerves controlling the body. So no matter the cause in a particular case the Chiropractic adjustment restores any nerve flow and addresses the actual cause of the problem.

It’s as simple as that!

By Dr Scott Szela

reference: J. Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health- Dec 23, 2013