Acupuncture For Kids:
So Much More Than Needles
“Acupuncture” is a catch-all term, especially when it comes to treating babies, children, and adolescents. That’s because pediatric acupuncturists utilize many techniques to activate acupuncture points, as well as food and movement homecare, herbs, and counseling for parents on health-promoting practices. It’s so much more than “needles!”
For thousands of years, East Asian Medicine has offered gentle, age-appropriate treatment for kids starting at birth. In Taiwan alone, a total of 1 million children received acupuncture between 2002 and 2011. Here in North America, we are so far behind! Being boxed into only certain approaches deprives our children of safe, effective, and time-tested methods to address concerns without dangerous or unknown side effects or indeterminable waiting lists.
Does Acupuncture Hurt?
As we’ve gone over, there are so many ways to activate acupuncture points that do not involve pins (commonly known as “needles”). But most parents, when they are considering acupuncture for their kids, really want to know, “will it hurt?”
First of all, acupuncture pins come in various thicknesses. Specialized pediatric pins (or “taps” as I call them) are the thickness of a single strand of hair. These pins are designed for quick and easy insertion that causes low sensation at the skin. Some children do not feel them at all. Furthermore, kids under the age of 11 receive acupuncture taps quite differently than adults do. Instead of lying down on a table, having the pins inserted, and then resting for 20-30 minutes, with kids 11 and younger, taps are inserted and immediately removed while they sit on a parents’ lap or play with a toy or a fidget on the floor. (In my practice, in fact, around age 3, I ask if the kiddo would like to “help me” tap the pin in. You’d be amazed at how many go for that!)
There is a second part to this answer and it revolves around consent. In fact, when talking about this classic question of “Will acupuncture hurt for my child?” I will frequently respond with a question of my own, “Did your baby or child consent?” Read on for a discussion of consent and pain sensation.
How Do You Do
Acupuncture On A Child?
The Chinese Medicine toolkit for kids is vast and varied. Naturally, this kind of variety means treatments can easily be personalized to a child’s condition and their level of comfort with super-fine pins or other non-needle techniques. Consent is the precursor to any treatment.
With such a rich clinical history, it is no surprise that more than a dozen techniques are used today to treat babies and kids (and sensitive adults!), including:
Specialized pediatric pins (the thickness of a single strand of hair),
Microcurrent,
Low-level Lasers,
Light touch (Shonishin),
Therapeutic massage (Tui na),
Herbal compress massage,
Soothing heat (moxa),
Gentle cupping,
Movement practices,
Nutritional support,
Herbal formulas
Consent With Kids Receiving Acupuncture
To the detriment of our kids and their budding relationships with their bodies’, consent culture is absent from most settings, especially those that are kid-centered. This is tragically the case in many treatment rooms, too. There are, indeed, times when parents and caregivers must give kids treatments without their consent to prevent future illness, pain, or injury. The acupuncture office; however, isn’t one of them.
We know that fear, which buds from mistrust, the unknown, and prior trespasses of boundaries, increases physical pain. As such, one of the main roles of the pediatric acupuncturist is to create an atmosphere of ease and a relationship of trust with the baby or child. Basically, the task is to build rapport to prevent or mitigate feelings of anxiety or fear for the child. Many times, this means parents must seek-out an office whose environment is designed to meet the needs of children. It means choosing a practitioner who takes the time (and derives joy in!) building a relationship with the child through play, consensual touch, and with older kids, conversation and genuine interest.
In order to build an effective therapeutic relationship with kids, the acupuncturist must ask for and receive consent before administering treatment. Consent can be given both verbally and non-verbally and requires a practitioner to listen deeply and observe carefully and while staying present with the child and their queues. This is not a difficult thing to do, it simply requires patience and letting parents know that treatment is effective even without the use of pins.
Many times, it can be challenging to get parents to understand that building trust with their child is a precondition to treatment with taps, as they want their child to experience relief as quickly as possible. This is absolutely understandable as seeing one’s child suffer is painful and exhausting, and sometimes unbearable. It is the job of the acupuncturist to educate parents about the toolkit available, and to explain how building trust is a part of the treatment process and their child’s healing. Book your Curiosity Call today to see if acupuncture could support your baby, child, or adolescent to thrive.
