Acupuncture for Children
Acupuncture for Children
Acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for all ages.
Children can be extremely responsive to very gentle, minimal treatment. This means that we can treat issues and imbalances in a simple way before they become deeper seated. Medications and their side effects or other compounding situations can often complicate conditions, similarly to what we often see in adult or chronic issues.
Also, of course, any problem affecting a child affects the whole family! So often by relieving the child’s symptoms, we are also treating the parents’ stress and health- so everyone’s a winner!
The aim of treatment is to fortify the child’s vital energy and strengthen their constitution. Treatment will not only help symptoms to naturally improve, but will give a greater sense of well-being, and help strengthen the body’s natural healing abilities, helping make the child less prone to illness.
Each child will be treated as a unique case and have their treatment tailored specifically for them. The frequency, dosage and strength of therapy, for example, will depend on the individual’s constitution, medical history, age, and symptoms.
Conditions treated
- colic
- indigestion
- GERD
- allergies
- asthma
- eczema
- constipation & diarroea
- hives
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- stuttering
- bed wetting
What to expect
A child’s treatments will usually be short in duration, often taking only a few minutes for infants or toddlers, with older children potentially requiring longer treatments. The younger the child, the gentler the treatment applied.
A tiny ball may be taped to certain acupuncture points for extra stimulation, or gentle cupping or indirect moxibustion (a warming technique) may be used to complement the treatment.
The treatment is quite simple and most children really enjoy it. In older children, where problems are more difficult or stubborn, specific, very gentle acupuncture techniques, employing specialised needles, may be used to supplement the general Shonishin treatment. This type of treatment is also well tolerated by the older child. They sometimes request the needles as they like the tingling feeling.
Do get in touch if you’d like to know more about how Acupuncture could help you or your child.