Chinese Medicine, Pediatrics, and Possibility
By Toby Helmstetter, LAc
It is always exciting when parents bring their children for acupuncture. We don't see that many kids, but when we do, it's a wonderful experience for the parents, the children, and for the acupuncturist. A few weeks ago I was able to take a class with my teacher, Jeffrey Yuen an 88th generation Daoist priest and acupuncturist. The class was on pediatrics, so my interest in treating children is renewed. Why? Because treating children shows us the pure potential we all have to heal.
Treating children is a state of mind, a belief in innocence of the mind and the body. In order to treat children, you must believe that anything is possible. Children get sick as quickly as they get well; they can move from fever to normal temperature, from better to worse and back again very rapidly. When we treat children in Chinese medicine, we are always on the look-out for where the disease is, and where it's going next. Believing in possibility--really, in human potential--helps the pediatric practitioner guide the sick child on her way toward rapid healing. And in the mind of the child, there are no limitations. Children are not yet bogged down as adults are by the limitations of finances, doubt, regret, and disbelief. Full of wonder, the child still believes that anything, even with regard to their own healing, is possible. They are limited only by what the adults tell them. The pediatric Chinese medicine practitioner recognizes too.
Childhood diseases come from both external and internal forces. Certainly, "inexperienced" immune systems meeting with the wide world of bacteria and viruses is a factor in how children become ill. Genetics and the inherited strength of the immune system are another piece. And the environment in which the child is born and lives, including diet, is another part still. When a parent brings their child to acupuncture, all of these factors are considered so that the practitioner can help direct the child to a balanced state. Whether treating an acute condition or a chronic one, the acupuncturist considers the child's illness as part of the expression of how she or he is moving through life, rather than just an isolated event. Then the resolution of that condition is about the child's journey to adulthood and keeping them balanced as they get there.
We see children for all types of conditions, acute or chronic, physical, mental, emotional, and even developmental. The common childhood illnesses like recurring ear infections, food and seasonal allergies, digestive issues, and recurring colds are the things we see the most. We also treat children with ADD, ADHD, anxiety, and some sensory processing disorders. In general, children are very receptive to the calming effects of acupuncture, and these types of conditions respond very well to Chinese medicine, so much so that a child who begins life as weak or anxious or frequently sick becomes hearty, strong, and resilient when facing both life and infection alike.
Luckily, and as many of you may already know, you don't have to "believe" in Chinese medicine for it to work. But in order for a child to be healthy, to grow and heal to his or her full potential, we must believe in the strength of that child. And it helps, when it comes to healing, to believe that anything is possible.