Clinical Evidence of Vestibular Dysregulation in Colicky Babies Before and After Chiropractic Treatment Compared to Non-Colicky Babies.

Abstract

Aim: to present a five-point clinical index of vestibular (hyper)activity and its application as a tool to investigate vestibular dysregulation in colicky and non-colicky babies.Methods: 120 consecutive colicky babies, before and after treatment, were evaluated using this index and compared to 117 non-colicky babies.Results. Before treatment out of 120 colicky babies 118 (98.3%) scored 1-5 and only 2 (1.7%) scored 0. Out of 117 non-colicky babies 89 (76,1%) scored 0 and 28 (23.9%) scored 1-3, none scored 4-5. Odds ratios are OR (CI 95%) 187.54 (43.52-808.09). After treatment 111 (92.5%) scored 0 and 9 (7.5%) scored 1-3, none scored 4-5. A McNemar test showed the difference before and after to be significant (χ² = 109.00, p < .001). For colicky babies the mean vestibular score is 2.88(SD 1.22), compared to 0.37(SD 0.73) for non-colicky babies, a difference of 87.2%. After treatment the score decreased from 2.88 (SD 1.12) to 0.10 (SD 0.40), or 96.5%. Conclusion: colicky babies are not just infants who cry a lot. They also show clinical evidence of vestibular dysregulation. The vestibular index opens the prospect that it could be developed into a tool towards an objective clinical diagnosis of infantile colic.