Few issues present more embarrassment for children and more frustration for parents than nocturnal enuresis, or night-time bedwetting.  For children it becomes quite a social burden when they are old enough to be invited to sleepover parties only to dodge the invitation due to possible bed-wetting problems.  Some children even go so far as to stay up all night in such situations just to avoid the possibility of embarrassment.  Friends can’t be invited over without lengthy explanations of all the preparations for bed, and no adolescent wants his or her friends to know that they have to wear pull-up diapers every night.  It is a real issue for them. 

Parents are left feeling frustrated by the turmoil the problem of nocturnal enuresis causes at home, too.  Extra loads of laundry have to be done, plastic sheets have to be arranged to avoid ruining mattresses, extra expense of pull-up diapers must be borne, alarms must be set in the middle of the night to wake up their children to get them to the bathroom, and the list goes on.  Add to this list the worry about what might be causing the problem in the first place, and the frustration mounts.  Parents have to be very patient, balance their irritation with their concern, and be careful not to scold children for something that is completely beyond their control.  If you are one of these parents, you are not alone.  According to Claudia Anrig, D.C., author of a textbook on chiropractic pediatrics, approximately 2-3 million children in the U.S. are afflicted with this disorder.  About 10 to 15 percent of 5 year olds and 5 percent of 10 year olds suffer.  The cause is largely unknown, although there is a hereditary component in some cases.

First handling for nocturnal enuresis should always be ruling out organic causes for the problem.  Your child’s pediatrician will know where to turn to make sure there is no urological or neurological cause.  Once these systems have been cleared as being the primary cause of night-time bedwetting, doctors often will prescribe medications for the problem.  Sometimes the medications are temporarily effective, but are not without their side effects and often the problem returns when the medication stops.  So there is no long-term effectiveness against which to weigh the down-sides of medications.  Night-time alarms are also used in the treatment of bed-wetting, but they don’t do anything to stop the problem.  They warn many times only when it is too late.  Often nocturnal enuresis is a self-limiting problem, or one which a child seems just to “grow out of”.  The questions are, however, “When will the child grow out of it?’ and “How much more of this can I take?” 

There is some evidence both clinical and published that chiropractic treatment might help those with nocturnal enuresis.  In the peer-reviewed Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, a study was published that was performed at the Palmer Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in Davenport, Iowa.  The study included a group of enuretic children who received a series of chiropractic treatments and a control group which received no chiropractic adjustments, and showed a 50 percent decrease in bedwetting episodes- measured by frequency of wet nights as reported by parents. Other studies report similar findings, while still others report a smaller decrease but a decrease nonetheless.  Most often the area of spinal manipulation that has shown to be the most effective in aiding those with nocturnal enuresis is the lumbar, or lower back, region of the spine.  The nerves in the lumbar spine supply the kidneys and bladder, so if there is a spinal misalignment in that area which is putting pressure on the lumbar nerve roots which supply those organs, the interference could cause them to malfunction.  It is the job of your chiropractor to locate the areas of misalignment and make the necessary corrections in order to restore the proper nerve flow to the body.  Proper nerve function helps us rest assured that our body’s self-healing, self-regulating properties are at work the way nature intended for them to be.

Getting adjusted can cause a number of positive effects on the body’s nervous system, and helping to decrease the episodes of bedwetting is one of those possibilities.  Ask your chiropractor about the many wonders of correcting interferences in your child’s nervous system.  You will be glad you did.  Treat your body well.

“Get amazing abs in just minutes a day while you rest!”
“Fabulous abs can be yours while you watch TV from your easy chair!”
“Get that 6-pack of ab muscles you’ve always wanted without breaking a sweat!”

The claims are pretty incredible.  Imagine being able to build impressive muscles while you solve the day’s crossword puzzle.  I use muscle stimulation in my practice, and often patients ask if the muscle stimulation that we use is similar to those machines advertised to build muscles without any active effort.  The answer to that question is that muscle stimulation which is used therapeutically is similar to the type that is available from the companies that advertise super abs in minutes a day.  The other answer, of course, is that those machines do not build abdominal muscles while you vegetate on the sofa.  In reality, the amount of muscle stimulation that would actually build the elusive six pack would be unbearably painful.  I had knee surgery in 1989 from a snow skiing accident, and during physical therapy my quadriceps muscle would not contract properly after atrophy from several months in a cast.  My physical therapist had to use a mode of stimulation to teach the muscle to contract again, and let me tell you it was no picnic regenerating the tone in my leg.  The therapy was excruciatingly painful, but it did work.

There is simply no shortcut to muscle tone.  Period.  Get used to it.  You must put in the time and effort to eat properly and get appropriate amounts of exercise in order to tone your body.  There is no magic pill or potion or machine which will do it for you.  Unfortunately we live in a very busy world and people are searching for shortcuts to everything.  Marketing companies will capitalize on the desires for us to take the easy way out, but there is no shortcut to fitness.  If you want great abs, put in the work to get them.  Find a personal trainer who will lay out a program for you to follow or buy a video tape which will outline the proper exercises to build abdominal muscles.  The key is that you must do the work.  No trainer or video or muscle stimulation machine will do for you what must be done. 

The same principles apply to reaching true health.  Without your participation, no one can make you healthy.  The cornerstones of health must all be strong.  You must get the proper amounts of rest, eat a balanced diet that is not full of fat and sugar, get some type of exercise on a regular basis, and make sure that you remove any obstacles to reaching your goals for health and happiness.  You will want to keep your nervous system clear of interference, and make sure you manage the stresses that come your way.  There is a lot you can do to keep yourself healthy, but you must first make a conscious decision to do those things.  Ask for help if you need it.  Form a group of like-minded people to keep you motivated, and set concrete goals that are easy to reach.  Then raise the bar a little bit.

If you happen to be one of the people who bought the ab stimulator machines, don’t just throw it away.  It can be used therapeutically to assist in pain management and muscle spasm relief.  Ask your health care provider how to use it to your benefit.  Your chiropractor or physical therapist should be able to tell you where you can acquire additional electrodes so that you can use them in the future.

Life is very much like a huge smorgasbord.  Anything and everything you could possibly want is out there and is available to you, but if you wait around  for someone to bring it to you, you will be left out.  You have to get up and get it yourself.  Treat yourself well.