Child Suffering with Encopresis Helped by Chiropractic

The 2025 third quarter issue of the Asian Pacific Chiropractic Journal published a case study documenting the immediate resolution of encopresis in a child after the child started chiropractic care.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) describes encopresis as “Encopresis or fecal incontinence is defined as the involuntary passing of stool into inappropriate places such as the underwear in children older than four years of age.” The NCBI further goes on to explain that this condition, “…represents severe psychological distress on children and their families.”

This study’s author points out that this condition is not uncommon and affects about 1% to 4% of children, with boys being more frequently diagnosed with the problem than girls. The study also notes that common treatment for this problem many times involves medications or psychological counseling. Psychological issues either contribute to this problem or are created by this problem.

In this case, a 7-year-old boy was brought to the chiropractor by his grandmother because she was concerned that her grandson’s social, emotional, and psychological well-being were being negatively affected by his ‘accidents’ which often happened at school, on the soccer field, or in front of his friends. Because of his condition, the boy would regularly pack a backup set of underwear and clothes to change into while he was at school.

According to the boy’s family, his accidents had been happening since early childhood. There was no history of trauma or accidents before his problem started. The boy had been prescribed antibiotics 3 or 4 times in his lifetime for various illnesses. The family reported that the boy did have a history of learning difficulties.

A chiropractic evaluation revealed postural asymmetry in the boy’s pelvis with one hip being higher than the other as well as a pelvic rotation. Additional postural irregularities were observed in the boy’s shoulders and the position of his head. Neurological testing revealed some additional positive findings.

With family permission, specific forms of chiropractic care were started on the boy. The boy was brought back two weeks later for a follow-up visit to see what type of progress had been made. At that visit, the boy’s mother reported that her son had not had a single accident since his first chiropractic visit. This represented the longest period of time the boy had ever gone without an accident. She also reported that her son was fully participating in school and at soccer. From that point, the study reports no further incidents of the boy suffering from accidents.