Tag: children

Acupuncture, General TCM, Medical, Wellness

Acupuncture for Children

by kaiwang492Leave a Comment on Acupuncture for Children

In China, patients go to acupuncturists from all ranges of ages — newborn (or even pre-born because of the mother) to any age. In the United States though, it looks like people are concerned about the discomfort and pain for kids because they are so protective of kids. That is why here there are much fewer kids exposed to acupuncture, and trying it.

My feelings are that it is just a cultural difference. Imagine when kids need to go to a dentist, a surgeon, or to have a simple vaccine or injection, etc. all of these medical procedures actually hurt much more than acupuncture. If kids can do those things, they can definitely tolerate acupuncture. Some people must wonder about kids who cannot stay still and they might think it will be difficult to do it. This is actually not true. For most kids, they are still when receiving acupuncture treatment just like adults. There are a few kids who may be a little bit fussy at the beginning and then a few minutes later they will be fine too. Of course, there may be 0.5% of kids that are not suitable for acupuncture, just like some certain medical procedures aren’t good for some people.

In China, when we started to give kids acupuncture for PDD research in 1987, we went to special schools to have acupuncture service for kids. We treated kids in their classrooms (five to thirteen years old) in an efficient order, like an assembly line with many of them sitting in a row receiving the treatment. Their behavior was fine. The reality is if the acupuncture is performed by well-trained acupuncturists, nothing really hurts. Since it is new here because of the cultural difference, we always ask both parents to come for the first visit with the child. We ask the parents to try the needle first so they can know what kind of sensation the child will have. If they feel it is fine, we’ll continue with the child. That procedure with the parents is done purposely to convince the kids that it’s okay to have acupuncture. So far, we have helped many children without any problems from the parents.

Pediatric acupuncturists appeared in China a long time ago, just like OBGYN acupuncturists, internal medicine acupuncturists, etc. Generally speaking, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and acupuncture theory, children’s problems are easier to deal with than adults because they are still in the developmental stage so they grow fast, heal fast,  and are full of energy. If the treatment is correct, the reaction will be very positive and quick. For most kids’ situations, they don’t need as many treatments as adults. For many of them, just one or two treatments shows results. Here, you can see to send a child to an acupuncturist is much simpler and less uncomfortable than going to other medical professionals. It is also actually very safe for kids to have acupuncture.

The most effective and commonly used acupuncture points are between elbows and the ends of hands, and between knees and the ends of feet. Acupuncture for children doesn’t need as much time for the needles to stay in, and for some problems the needle only goes in and out. Even further, some kids don’t need needles at all – they just need acupressure. There’s no risk to the treatments, especially since so often the kids fall and hurt themselves and that is much harsher of an injury than acupuncture ever will be. Sometimes, just changing the diet makes a big difference too.

Acupuncture, General TCM, Women's Health

No Breast Milk or Too Much Breast Milk

by kaiwang492Leave a Comment on No Breast Milk or Too Much Breast Milk

Do you have a breast milk problem after having a baby? We’ve seen it before. In modern society, the stress of work can of overwhelm people. When a woman becomes a mother, there are more things than usual to be worried about, specifically at the beginning when you have a newborn. It is a good idea to breastfeed even with the wide variety of formula available. On one hand, formulas are good for mothers with too much work and those that cannot see the child too often. On the other hand, the new mothers may have opportunities to breastfeed their baby but do not produce enough milk. There are many reasons for not producing enough breast milk, such as stress and imbalanced hormone levels. If the mother lost a lot of blood during childbirth, her body will be focused on making more blood, not breast milk. In China, there are many natural ways to facilitate breast milk production such as fish soup (carp fish preferred), pig feet soup, vaccaria seeds, etc. For most women, this will help greatly. For some other women, this may not be enough. In that case, it is necessary to have acupuncture for help. Ancient Chinese doctors found a specific spot on both pinky fingers two to three millimeters away from the edge of the nail on the outer portion of the finger. It is called shaoze, the first point on the small intestine channel (in Traditional Chinese Medicine). What you need to do is acupuncture the points and some adjacent points on or around the breasts/chest after sterilization for twenty five minutes once a day for a week or once every other day for two weeks. It is highly recommended to combine this treatment with the foods mentioned above for the best results. Another issue for new mothers is sometimes they find themselves lactating too much, and it is annoying, or they want to stop breastfeeding for some reason. You can use herbs like barley sprout/malt to inhibit lactation. If you combine the pair of acupuncture points, Zulinqi, the results will be better. In the past years, we have seen quite a few patients like we mentioned above for help. So far, we have helped every body.  The patient will definitely get better  results if they combine acupuncture and herbal and/or diet changes together. One of the patients in particular (which is listed in Complex Cases under New Mothers) did not have enough breast milk for four months after her child’s delivery. She went to different specialists for help. After six sessions of acupuncture treatment, she said she finally had enough milk. This is still new in the USA. We hope that more and more people realize that many problems and conditions can be helped easily by Chinese medicine or acupuncture or a combination of both. In this way, more people can get benefits from an easier method.