Pediatrics and Family Medicine

Children of all ages can be treated and respond well to acupuncture and Chinese herbal treatment. Parents are turning to acupuncture because it offers a safe, natural and effective approach to pediatric care. In western medicine, many pediatric conditions are treated with antibiotics, which over time can lead to a higher incidence of digestive-related discomfort and immune system depletion. Acupuncture and herbal medicine, while recognizing the importance of antibiotics as an option, offer effective alternatives that simultaneously vanquish harmful infections and heal the body's terrain at the root level so that infection is less likely to return.

If you or your child has undergone multiple courses of antibiotics for a history of ear infections, respiratory infections, and other similar conditions, reestablishing a healthy balance of gut flora (the naturally-occurring, helpful bacteria that aid us in digestion and immune defense) may be central to restoring health. This can be done most efficiently through acupuncture and herbal therapies, and also with dietary adjustments and supplements such as probiotics. Acupuncturists are thoroughly trained in nutritional counseling, and can help you choose the right foods (and if necessary, supplements) to encourage health in the body.

Additionally, as children are very sensitive to their environments and their parents'/caregivers' health, it is often very beneficial for parents and children to be treated together. This can be a crucial element to the treatment process for children who are prone to anxieties, phobias, and emotional/behavioral outbursts. Parent-child cotreatment is one aspect to consider while planning your family's healthcare.

Shonishin Pediatric Acupuncture

The technique I use with children is called Shonishin Pediatric Acupuncture (sho = little, ni = children, shin = needle). It is a specialized form of treatment for infants and children that became popular for its success in the 1700s, in the Osaka region of Japan. To this day, Japanese parents regularly bring children for Shonishin treatment, and this approach is increasing in popularity around the world. The Shonishin method involves using blunted metal instruments designed for children to painlessly stimulate acupuncture meridians in order to reestablish proper energy flow.

Contact Needling

For adolescents/teenagers and patients who have an aversion to needles, I offer contact needling. Contact needling is a technique in which thicker, blunted needles are held to the skin, and the selected acupuncture point is stimulated without actual penetration of the skin surface. This is a very effective and entirely painless method of acupuncture. The ancient medical classics of China, such as the Ling Shu, describe nine types of needles, several of which were never intended to pierce the skin. Three of these non-insertion needles – the Enshin, the Teishin, and the Zanshin – are considered, for those who know how to wield them, basic to the practice of acupuncture.

If you or your child are interested in receiving contact needling in place of traditional needle insertion, please discuss this with me before or during the first treatment.

Pediatric Acupuncture has been shown to help with: