Osteopathische Behandlung bei Säuglingskolik/exzessivem Schreien

Objective – Colic in infants is defined as excessive crying in an otherwise healthy and thriving baby. The crying typically starts in the first few weeks of life and usually resolves within 6 months. We wanted to study whether osteopathic treatments of infants with infantile colic/excessive crying (IC/EC) have an impact on the subjectively perceived psychological stress of the caregivers compared to usual care.

Methods – The study was designed as a prospective, multicenter, randomized controlled trial. Infants aged 1 week to 3 months who met Rome IV criteria for IC/EC were included. By means of external randomization infants were allocated to an intervention group or a control group. Infants in the intervention group received three osteopathic treatments at intervals of 1 week. Treatment was custom tailored and based on osteopathic principles. Controls received their osteopathic treatment after a 3-week untreated period. Both groups were allowed to use usual care. The primary outcome parameter was the assessment of parental psychological stress (3 questions), measured by a numeric rating scale (NRS 0–10). Furthermore, the average daily crying time, the crying intensity and the parents’ self-confidence were assessed.

Results – A total of 103 infants were included, 52 in the intervention group and 51 in the control group. The inter-group comparison of changes revealed clinically relevant improvements in favor of the intervention group for the main outcome parameter psychological stress for all 3 questions. For the secondary outcome parameters of crying intensity and crying time/day, the changes were of similar dimensions.

Conclusion – 3 osteopathic treatments over a period of 2 weeks led to statistically significant and clinically relevant positive changes of parental psychological stress.