Bed-Wetting Is Reduced By Lower Back Magnetic Stimulation, Study Finds

Bed-wetting has no real cause determined by study. Still, it is a shame for many children and adults, according to hngn.

While some drugs and alarms have been tried to treat it, researchers at the Assiut University Hospital in Egypt have come up with a new and interesting treatment: magnetic stimulation of the lower back, according to newscientist.

The "repetitive sacral root magnetic stimulation" was administered to 44 patients, who were also taking anti-depressant drugs, imipramine.

The patients were divided into two groups, with one group getting the stimulation, while the other one got a "sham" stimulation with the magnetic field getting directed in another direction from the back.

In two weeks, they got 10 treatment sessions. After that, the group that got the lower back magnetic stimulation brought down bed-wetting from 5.7 to 0.3 cases per week, while the second group reduced it only from 6.5 to 1.8 cases per week.

Strangely, a month later, the group that received the real treatment continued to improve, while the group that was given the placebo saw an increase in the problem to 5.2 per week.

"It seems likely that rSMS produced some of its effect in the present patients by a direct effect on bladder control," said Eman M. Khedr, lead study author and Department of Neurology professor at the Assiut University Hospital. "In the present study, rSMS could have increased arousal or enhanced inhibition of neuronal re-uptake of noradrenaline and serotonin. We have previously reported that patients with nocturnal enuresis have pathologically increased excitability and reduced inhibitory processing in the motor cortex and it is possible that rSMS could affect these measures as well," he explained, according to Science Daily.

It even improved the mental health scores, to help in social functioning. The study was published in the Aug. 19 issue of the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.