Bedwetting Possibly Explained
I connected some new dots for a possible explanation of childhood bedwetting.
After a baby presented for a few visits, his mother told me that his fussiness issues were gone. He was happy, smiling, and cooing at her often. When I hear this from a mom, I feel like we are done with therapy. But when I checked his bladder area, a deep strain, pulling hard into his lower back, caused him to cry.
I was totally surprised when I felt this intense strain. Why wasn’t something showing up clinically for mom? I am suggesting this hypothesis.
Infants can urinate anytime because they wear diapers. They do not have any holding capability at that age. When you put a clean diaper on before bedtime, they do not have to hold it until morning.
If there is fascial strain somewhere in the urinary system affecting the sphincters, it may be masked until the child is old enough to be expected to hold it all night. The problem may have been present since birth and is now manifesting as a urinary condition.
Knowing this possibility now, I need to be more careful on the infant exit visit. I may have missed this for a few babies in my career. The fact that mom says she has a happy baby is great, but the baby may still be harboring some latent strain(s), which can cause a problem(s) later in life.
As pioneers in this field, we constantly learn new aspects to provide a better service. We do the best we can with what we know at the present moment. Our goal is to have a strain-free baby at the last visit.
—Dr. Andrew Still, the Father of Osteopathy
Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy Articles on Health Conditions
