Acupuncture for children

Gentle, effective and safe acupuncture treatments for children of all ages

One of the reasons I love treating children is that children can be highly responsive to very gentle, minimal treatment. This means that we can treat issues and imbalances in a simple way before they become deep-seated, complicated by medications and their side effects, or compounded by other problems, as is often the case in adult patients.

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It’s also worth considering that any problem affecting a child also affects the whole family. Often, by relieving the child's symptoms, we also alleviate the parents' stress and improve their health, making life better for everyone!

The Shonishin approach

We use the Shonishin approach for children’s treatments. Shonsin treatments offer a gentler approach, which often uses pressure point stimulation instead of needles. As with adult acupuncture, Shonishin has been seen to provide a safe and viable alternative to pharmaceuticals in the treatment of a wide range of problems, from behavioural and emotional imbalances to more physical conditions. It has been used in treating infants and children afflicted with conditions including colic, indigestion, GERD, constipation, and diarrhoea. It has even shown some success in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), allergies, asthma, eczema, hives, bedwetting, and stuttering.

What to expect

A child's treatments will usually be short, 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 specific 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. After one or two sessions, I may also demonstrate at-home treatments to parents. This enables parents to continue treatment under the practitioner's supervision, increasing the regularity of treatment and fostering the bond between parent and child. 

In older children, where problems are more difficult or stubborn, specific, 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- I've even had some children requesting the needles as they like the tingling feeling :)

Another tool we can use to avoid needles is the much more modern invention of “Laser Acupuncture”. This uses a low-energy laser beam—instead of traditional acupuncture needles—to influence acupuncture points. The healing power of lasers was discovered over 40 years ago and is becoming more and more popular as the research grows.

Do get in touch if you'd like to know more about how Acupuncture or Shonishin could help you or your child.