Potty training can be a difficult task for parents, especially if the child doesn’t feel ready. Once day time dryness has been achieved the harder task is to stay dry through the night. Around 20% of children have some problems with bed wetting at age 5 and up to 10% still do at age 7. By the late teens, the estimated rate of bed wetting is between 1% and 3% of children. Boys are more likely to have problems at night versus girls.

This can be very embarrassing for the child or teen. Not wanting to spend the night with friends or have anyone over. Wearing “diapers” to bed can also cause depression and the child thinks there is something wrong with them. Most parents don’t know what to do for their child and hope they will grow out of it.

We have to train our bladder to know when it is full and need to void. When kids are little, you are teaching sensations. As the child grows, the bladder can hold more urine and trips to the bathroom decrease over time.

Anatomy of the bladder

The size of a childs bladder can be predicted by taking their (Age + 2) x 30 mL. The adult bladder can hold up to 500 mL. In children the bladder lies primarily in the abdomen until they reach puberty and it drops down into the pelvic bowl. The pelvic muscles support the bladder.

There are 3 sets of nerves that supply the bladder and urinary tract. The nerves come from the lumbar and sacral nerves (aka low back and tailbone). The job of the “tailbone” nerves is to excite the bladder and relax the urethra to help with emptying. The nerves that exit the low back and supply the bladder help inhibit the bladder and excite the urethra to help with holding and filling. The last nerves are called Pudendal nerves the excite the urethral sphincter, releasing the urine.

As the bladder fills, the muscle stretches which stimulate the nerves and signal the brain how full the bladder is. Voluntary control develops in children between the ages of 2 and 4. Prior to this voiding is controlled by nerves.

Nerves are impacted by function of the spine (mobility), stresses in the body from either chemical (medicines), environmental (mold, air quality), emotional (thoughts, words) or physical stress, as well as, what we put in our body (diet).

Chiropractic

Kids when learning how to walk fall quite frequently. This can cause issues with the tailbone and nerves that exit the tailbone. This can cause issues with bladder control, low back pain, walking issues, just to name a few. Adjusting the low back and sacrum can help reprogram the nerves to function properly. Also, training the pelvic muscles can drastically improve the bladder function. If issues arise and are put off till later, it will take longer to improve symptoms and correct the issues.

Small changes like going to the bathroom before bed, limiting liquids an hour before bed, and limiting sugar (yes! sugar is pro inflammatory and causes functions of the body to not work correctly) will help with with training the bladder.

Treatment in my office is a series of adjusting the spine and addressing any postural issues. When you have imbalances in posture, you will have a harder time correcting the issue you came to the office for.

If you have any questions give us or a chiropractor near you a call! Addressing issues when they arise will help prevent problems later. (Treatment is also easier when issues are “new”).

~Dr. Lacey~
Carder Chiropractic Clinic, INC.
El Reno, OK 73036