Background:
As shown in the literature about 6 percent of newborn childs suffer from congenital stenosis of the naso-lacrimal duct. Spontaneous remission rate is very high.
Objective:
The purpose of the study is to show if there is a positive effect of the osteopathic treatment in congenital stenosis of the nasolacrimal duct (CNLDO)

Design:
Randomised controlled study

Setting:
Two osteopaths who were educated at the European College of Osteopathy performed the study at their osteopathic practise in Munich, Dachau and Starnberg (Germany). Period: June 2004 to July 2008

Material and methods:
33 infants between 4 and 12 month (mean 5,8 month) attended the study. By randomization 16 infants were allocated to the intervention-group and 17 to the controlled-group. Patients of the interventions-group got four osteopathic treatments once a week. After a non-treated waiting period of 3 weeks patients of the controlled group got also four osteopathic treatments once a week. A follow-up was made 4 to 6 weeks after the last treatment. The primary parameter the study was looking for was the collection of data of epiphora, conglutination, secretion and redness. The data were collected on a parents observation form. Secondary parameters were crying behaviour and the emesis of the infants after ingestion. Data were also collected by parents.

Results:
In the 3 week intervention period 6 from 16 osteopathic treated infants were complete free of symptoms. In the controlled group only 3 of 17 infants were complete free of symptoms. This result is not significant (p = 0,2). At the date of control 4 to 6 weeks after treatment the number of symptom free infants increased from 6 to 8. The additional treatment of the controlled group verified the positive trend in favour of the osteopathic therapy.

Conclusion:
Four osteopathic treatments in a period of 3 weeks show a positive trend in the treatment of infant congenital nasolacrimal obstruction. Further studies are desirable particularly for the development of the symptom-collection-modality