A good friend of mine found a model spine of the the lumbar region with the sacrum. The model even included the nerves. While I was showing her how really cool the gift was I kept thinking about a presentation I did in Chiropractic school on bed-wetting and chiropractic care. Several studies have been done since than but the one I'll be referring to was done by William R. Reed, D.C.,* Scott Beavers, D.C., +Saroja K. Reddy, PH.D D.C., and Greg Kern, D.C..
We all know kids fall down and they get right back up like nothing happened as they start to learn to walk in the first year of their life. We never think about the implication of all their contentious falls, but we all sit there and go man I wish I could do that fall down and get back up with out lasting effects. When reality is they do have lasting effects just like us but they do not immediately present them selves afterwards. We will see it when potty training is prolonging or trying to get them to sleep through the night without wetting the bed. Only when this prolongs do we start to release something is not right.
So lets think about our spine, nervous system, and bladder for a moment. We are going to make this really fast and to the point. Our brain controls everything, and it responds to signals that our peripheral body sends it. Below is an exact image of that from http://www.apparelyzed.com/bladder-function.html.
This pathway is called our nervous system and it is protected by our spine. Childrens sacrum are not fused like an adults sacrum, so when they fall each segments move and shift like our backs do when we bend and twist for something. The sacrual fusion starts in adolescence and finishes when we reach about 30 years of age. So know lets introduce the child falling and having a subluxation (malignment of the spine) in the sacrum. This allows improper signalling to the brain.
How do we fix this?? Well Chiropractic adjustments that is. How do Chiropractic adjustments help with this well by a Chiropractor adjusting the child's Sacrum and Thoracic region (see image above for clarification why here too) would remove the interference on the nerves that were moved during the repetitive falls and allow the body to preform proper signalling. This would in turn allow proper reaction from the brain.
If you would like to read the study check out http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/7884329 or contact your local Chiropractor for more information on this topic.
Heather Stewart, D.C.