Acupuncture for Children

Acupuncture is not just for adults, and it’s not just a pain remedy! This article explains how acupuncture can help children.

Chinese Medicine is not just a pain relief method. It’s actually a pretty complex medical system that includes pediatric care for infants, toddlers, and small children. Instead of simply being treated like small adults, children are treated with a different system of therapies and methods than adults. What is acupuncture for children? Different methods of acupuncture for children include the use of shonishin, which is a non-insertion method of acupuncture that uses a special tool. Chinese Medicine pediatrics also includes tuina (therapeutic massage) and herbal medicine.

Shonishin literally translates to “little children needle” in English. This method originated in Osaka, Japan in the 17th century for the treatment of infants and children up to the age of seven. Shonishin is a pediatric method of acupuncture in La Jolla, CA that is known to treat children with heartburn (GERD), indigestion, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), constipation, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, eczema, hives, bedwetting, and even speech problems. The acupuncturist uses a shonishin tool by stroking, tapping, rubbing, and pressing the skin to create a variety of sensations over the acupuncture meridians. The entire treatment process can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the strength of the child and his or her age.

Tuina massage, on the other hand, includes traction, motion, massage, and stimulation of the different acupuncture meridians at specific points. Both chronic and acute musculoskeletal conditions can be treated with tuina. Internal conditions such as digestive problems, difficulty sleeping, chest congestion, colds and coughs, and even anxiety-related disorders may also respond well to tuina treatment.

Most acupuncturists will show the child’s parents different shonishin and tuina techniques that the parent can do at home between visits with the acupuncturist. An ordinary soup spoon can be used in place of professional tuina and guasha tools for “maintenance” to keep children’s conditions under control.

It’s important for parents to utilize therapeutic physical touch with their children. This plays a crucial role in the development of a child’s nervous system, providing a healthy balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, the immune system, the digestive system, and the musculoskeletal system. Oftentimes physical and behavioral problems in children are simply manifestations of a lack of therapeutic touch and the usage of inappropriate physical touch (spanking or hitting).

Physical touch teaches children body awareness. This helps them to understand that if they are hungry, thirsty, hot, cold, tired, sleepy, hurt, or sick; they can either utilize some self-care by using self-massage, or asking for help. Children without such awareness may act out, scream, or be mean to others because they don’t understand what is going on inside their bodies and they don’t know what to do about it.

Herbal medicine is another forgotten remedy of Chinese Medicine that is relied upon when you get acupuncture in La Jolla, CA. Instead of using Tylenol, Ritalin, Nyquil, or other potentially dangerous over-the-counter and “prescription” drugs, Chinese herbalists rely on natural remedies that have been used for centuries without causing unwanted side effects. Herbal medicine treats the root of the disease, rather than treating the branch or symptom only. For this reason, symptomatic relief may not come immediately after using an herbal formula. However, the disease process itself will be over much more quickly.