Until every pediatric medical
problem has been resolved, there is still a need for special training for
doctors specializing in pediatric medicine. One example of a pediatric medical
concern that remains unresolved is that of "baby colic (also known as
infant colic, three-month colic, infantile colic and colic)." (1)
Why use this example?
For infant colic, there is still
no known cure.
Has there been sufficient
research done, with regard to this particular pediatric, medical problem? No.
Has the pediatric medical research about infant colic been advanced enough? No.
Has it included every possible realm of pediatric medical research? No, it has
not. This is not suggesting that there has never been any work done in that
area.
Important medical advances
continue to be the direct result of the work carried out by pediatric
researchers. Pediatric specialists have approached the topic of infant colic,
from many different directions.
Obviously, some factor is still
missing or the issue of infant colic would have been resolved, long ago.
Perhaps this is a genetic factor. Maybe it has something to do with a fluid,
chemical, hormonal or electrolyte imbalance. No one really seems to know.
What is infant colic?
Colic is "a condition in
which an otherwise healthy baby cries or screams frequently and for extended
periods of time, without any discernible reason. The condition typically
appears within the first three weeks of birth and almost invariably disappears,
often very suddenly, before the baby is three to four months old." (2)
One might suggest that doctors
and pediatricians, as well as other medical professionals from the northern,
southern, eastern and western hemispheres, have already tried to resolve this
particular area of medical concern. While there are many possible answers, no
one appears to have found the perfect answer yet.
In the meantime, babies with
colic continue to cry all around the world, at least until they move beyond
this developmental stage in their lives.
Medical professionals have
suggested that colic in infants is the result of acute, paroxysmal, bowel spasms,
stating "...traditionally colic was ascribed to abdominal pain resulting
from trapped gas in the digestive tract." (3)
If that is the case, then the
question becomes one of whether bowel spasms cause the gas or the gas causes
the bowel spasms, that in turn lead to the incessant crying of infants.
This becomes a circular
question. "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
These kinds of
questions have no immediate answers, except perhaps in terms of medical
theories. There are no cures either, although cures can sometimes arise out of
theories.
Is there going to be a cure for
infant colic, in the future?
When is a cure, actually
considered a cure?
It can only be a cure, when a
problem like infant colic finds an effective resolution, in all properly
diagnosed cases. When there are no longer any symptoms present, a cure may be
evident, as long as there is no recurrence of the symptoms.
Is the age of the infant, one
factor in the cure of infant colic? That may be something to take into
consideration. There are self-resolving medical conditions, as the human body
can heal itself over time, depending upon the situation at hand.
Will the infants in the next
generation have the same symptoms?
At best, pediatric medical
specialists have come up with suggestions that appear to offer some degree of
hope for the distraught parents of colicky infants. Are any of them a cure for
infant colic? No.
At the same time, there is reluctance on the part of the
western world to accept or allow anything other than traditional, western
treatment for infant colic. That limits the diagnosis and treatment of infant
colic to traditional, western medical approaches and at the same time, attempts
to rule out possible options offered by eastern, northern and southern realms
of medical treatment usually associated with alternative health care.
When the issue is not resolved
in infants, it ultimately places the problem of infant colic back into the
hands of the infants' parents. As a last resort, almost every family or global
community has some ancient folk remedy that may be effective in the treatment
of infant colic, at least some of the time.
One has to agree that the
medical problem we refer to as colic in infants, exists in every hemisphere.
Pediatricians, doctors and other pediatric medical researchers, as well as
parents, are trying to deal with this problem everywhere. Many parents resort
to turning to grandparents for help. Sometimes parents are simply at their
wit's end, with no apparent resolution in sight and the infants cry regardless
of what anyone attempts to do.
There is something the matter
with this picture.
Pediatric medical
specialization should be able to open the door for other, non-traditional or
alternative approaches to the treatment of infant colic, because they may prove
to offer a cure. Additional research in these areas could lead to finding an
effective resolution.
Perhaps the entire emphasis
with regard to infant colic has been wrong.
Consider the following: the infant cries; the infant has gas; gas causes bowel spasms and bowel spasms cause the infant
to cry.
In the western world, the
traditional focus of treatment has been on the gas and the bowels, rather than
on the infant's cry. Is it perhaps time to shift the focus?
Here is a thought to consider.
Acupressure links the bowels to the sinuses, via the energy flow through the
meridians. Is there a blockage of the meridian?
Perhaps the focus of current
research regarding the treatment of infant colic, should be different? Should
it focus on the infant's brain, as the origin of the cry of the infant and
relate it to the function of the brain, instead of the bowel?
Chiropractors are suggesting
spinal manipulation is another possibility, as it may be a factor related to
blockage of the nerves and interference with the nervous system.
The International Colic
Pediatric Association - Research foundation, on the website
http://www.icpa4kids.org/research/chiropractic/colic.htm,
documents a number of case studies referring to the chiropractic treatment of
infant colic.
Note the article entitled,
"Chiropractic Found Effective for Infantile Colic: Randomized Controlled
Trial Shows Manipulation More Effective than Drug." (4)
The article begins with this
statement. "A randomized, controlled clinical trial on colic in Denmark
It concludes in this way.
"Spinal manipulation is normally used in the treatment of musculoskeletal
disorders, and the results of this trial leave open two possible
interpretations. Either spinal manipulation is effective in the treatment of
the visceral disorder infantile colic or infantile colic is, in fact, a
musculoskeletal disorder, and not, as normally assumed, visceral." (6)
Medicalization of infant colic
may not be the best possible answer to the problem. In fact, one might
ask whether insistence on medicalization, as the preferred treatment
methodology for infant colic, might be preventing medical pediatric specialists
from finding the real cause or cure.
Special training for doctors
specializing in pediatric medicine has barely begun. In fact, every hemisphere
shows evidence of the need for increased special training for doctors
specializing in pediatric medicine.
There should be open doors for
medical professionals everywhere, in every possible realm of special training
for doctors specializing in pediatric medicine, whether or not they are of
northern, southern, eastern and western hemisphere orientation.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
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