One of my very first patients (all those years ago) was a seven year old girl who was still having issues with bed wetting. Every night, no matter what they tried, Sarah woke with wet sheets. Sarah's self-esteem was poor. She walked with her head down, embarrassed. She couldn't have sleepovers with her friends due to her situation. None of her other friends wet the bed at this age. She knew she was "different." On the recommendation of a friend, Sarah's mom reluctantly brought her in to see me.
"How can chiropractic help bed wetting," she asked?
It's really quite simple. First of all, chronic bed wetting is not the child's fault. No seven year old child deliberately wants to wet the bed. The problem stems from a true physiological dysfunction. The bladder does not and cannot work properly. The proper function of any part of the body is directly related to its nerve supply. If we severe a nerve, we have paralysis/no function. If we stress, pinch, or obstruct nerve flow we have what I call half-paralysis/half-function. This obstruction to proper nerve flow most always originates from a subluxation. A bone in the spinal column has been knocked out of position and that causes undue pressure on the nerve as it exits the spinal cord.
The analogy I use is "stepping on a garden hose." This pressure stops the water from coming out the open end. Without the water, the flowers in your garden wither. Their life support has been taken away. Once we take our foot off the hose and release the pressure, water is restored to the flowers and they come back to life. When a chiropractic adjustment takes the pressure off of a nerve, life is restored.
The nerves that stimulate bladder function arise form the low back and sacrum. Subluxations in this area can results in bladder dysfunction. Another area to consider is the neck. The phrenic nerve stems from C (cervical) 3-4-5, the middle of the neck. The phrenic nerve supplies the diaphragm, our muscle that creates breathing. The phrenic reflex occurs when carbon dioxide levels
in the blood get too high. This triggers the diaphragm to contract (pull down). This in turn creates a vacuum in the thoracic cage/chest and air/oxygen rushes into the lungs. You take a breath.
A
high concentration of CO2 causes smooth muscle tissue to relax. The
muscle that controls the opening and emptying of the bladder is
composed of smooth muscle fibers. As your child sleeps, their respiration decreases and CO2 concentration rise. If the phrenic reflex does not respond concurrently, the smooth muscle fibers of the bladder's opening are
more apt to relax. There's your accident.
A toddler's phrenic nerve is still in the stages of developing (as are all of their other parts) and bed wetting is normal. Children gain control of their bladders with the normal maturation of the phrenic nerve. Should your child have bed wetting issues, perhaps there is a subluxation in the cervical spine causing dysfunction in the phrenic nerve or in the lower back and sacrum.
Sarah got her first adjustment that day and returned five days later for her follow up appointment. Her mom reported that Sarah had only one accident since her adjustment. Still not convinced of the simple science of chiropractic, she asked me, "Do you really think it was the adjustment?" I answered, "You've tried everything else and nothing worked. Sarah got an adjustment and she has improved dramatically. Yes. It was the adjustment." Her mom, on the verge of tears, then asked, "Can we have some more?"
I love my job!
