Chronic Abdominal Wall Pain in Children may be Improved By Physiotherapy

Functional abdominal pain is common in children and a proportion of these children suffer from chronic abdominal wall pain (CAWP). CAWP is suggested when a positive Carnett's sign is elicited in a child where the pain gets worsened by movement. Analgesics are generally not helpful in children with CAWP. We describe a novel approach with physiotherapy (by core stability programme) for managing children with this condition. The therapy was delivered by a paediatric therapist after other organic causes of abdominal pain were ruled out. Forty two out of 49 children (85%) showed improvement with this therapy. As the improvement was noticed during the therapy and sustained thereafter we suggest that this therapy is helpful in children in CAWP.