Infantile colic can be very stressful for parents whose baby is inconsolable during crying episodes. Colic is often defined by the "rule of three": crying for more than three hours per day, for more than three days per week, and for longer than three weeks in an infant who is well-fed and otherwise healthy.

Medications available in the United States have not been proved effective in the treatment of colic, and most behavior interventions have not been proved to be more effective than placebo.  So what options do parents have?

Pediatric Chiropractic

A new systemic review published this month in the Cochrane Library, evaluated the results of studies designed to address the efficacy of manipulative therapies (specifically, chiropractic, osteopathy and cranial manipulation) for infantile colic in infants less than six months of age.

The authors concluded that majority of clinical trials seemed to indicate parents of infants using manipulative therapies for colic reported fewer hours of crying per day and was statistically significant. The trials also indicate that a greater proportion of those parents reported improvements that were clinically significant.

Getting a good night of sleep is one of the cornerstones of health. After all, sleep is when your body is able to repair and heal. However, sleep deprivation is such a chronic condition these days that you might not even realize you suffer from it.

Our inability to disconnect - from cell phones, tablets, laptops, television, music players - all can result in a lack of rest. Science has now established that a sleep deficit can have serious, far reaching effects on your health. For example, interrupted or impaired sleep can; weaken your immune system, accelerate tumor growth, impair your memory, and decrease your performance on physical and mental tasks. When your circadian rhythms are disrupted, your body produces less melatonin and has less ability to fight cancer (melatonin helps suppress free radicals that can lead to cancer). This is why tumors grow faster when you sleep poorly.

When it comes to health care, Western medicine has always taught its patients that they are victims of their genes. They truly believe that within their family history lies their fate. They tell us that if our grandfather had heart disease and our father had a heart attack, then our fate is sealed and we are set up to be an unavoidable victim. We are told that disease is something you’re stricken with, not something you develop or create on your own or lifestyle induced. This victim mentality has allowed the pharmaceutical industry to flourish and prey upon the public’s misunderstanding regarding disease as well their ability to take control of their life and health.

Otitis media (more commonly known as an ear infection) is a generic name for several conditions that can affect the middle ear, including inflammation of the middle ear, ranging from acute to chronic and with or without symptoms.

Acute otitis media (AOM) is characterized by symptoms of pain and fever. Otitis media with effusion (OME) is typified by the presence of fluid in the middle ear without signs or symptoms of infection. Ear infections account for over 35% of all pediatrician visits in the United States. Antibiotics are not always effective and may even lead to a recurrence of ear infections.

Sinus infections are the fifth most common reason antibiotics are prescribed for adults. Unfortunately, they are of no help for most sinus infections – this according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Not only are we facilitating the growth of drug resistant bacteria by over prescribing these antibiotics – the research shows it doesn't even provide symptom relief. Even more disturbing, the numbers show that fewer than two percent of sinus infections are bacterial. Which means the overwhelming majority of sinus infections are viral – of which antibiotics are no help.

A major article review published in The Lancet in 2010 revealed what many in the natural health profession have suspected for a long time. The review examined the results of over 41 randomized trials and over 2500 patients with tendon injuries.

The reviewers found that cortisone injections did in fact provide fast and significant pain relief compared with doing nothing or partaking in physical therapy. However, cortisone shots did not heal the structural damage underlying the pain. Instead, they actually hindered the structural healing, and in 1 case caused tendon rupture.

Cholesterol lowering drugs called Statins generated $34 billion in sales in 2007 and have raked in over a quarter of a trillion dollars since they were introduced two decades ago. A new study reported in the NY Times links the use of statins with a higher risk of developing diabetes. This is just the latest in a seemingly endless list of side-effects that continue to be discovered from the long term use of these drugs.