Acupuncture News
News Archive
7-21-03
Brenner Children's Hospital Pediatrician Recommends Acupuncture as Adjunctive Therapy
Source: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
A pediatrician at Brenner Children's
Hospital recommends acupuncture as part of a treatment plan for children
with chronic pain or nausea, according to a study published in the December
2002 issue of Contemporary Pediatrics. Kathi Kemper, M.D., a pediatrician at
Brenner Children's Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C., says using acupuncture
may help relieve some side effects of treatment and make pediatric patients
more comfortable.
"I recommend acupuncture be used as an adjunctive therapy for children who
experience chronic, recurrent, or severe pain such as migraine, severe
chronic abdominal pain and pain associated with cancer and nausea," Kemper
said. "Several studies have shown that acupuncture is effective in the
treatment of headaches in pediatric patients. Acupuncture is safe and
effective. For patients who have no interest in taking additional
medications or who are already receiving maximal medical treatment and want
help with symptoms, acupuncture is a viable alternative."
Kemper says that patients can gain relief from nausea as well. "In our
clinical experience, pediatric oncology patients often report great relief
from a combination of professionally administered acupuncture and
over-the-counter acupuncture wrist bands," she said. Some patients,
according to Kemper, prefer acupuncture because its side effects include a
greater sense of well-being, enhanced alertness and reduced pain.
Acupuncture is the most familiar of the several therapies that make up
traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine views disease as
an imbalance or lack of harmony in the body and prescribes therapies as a
way to restore that balance and harmony, Kemper said.
The practice of and research on acupuncture have flourished in the United
States over the past 30 years. The Food and Administration, which regulates
acupuncture needles as disposable medical devices, estimates that in the
1990s, Americans made 9 million to 12 million annual visits to
acupuncturists and spent approximately $500 million each year on acupuncture
services.
Despite this growth, access to acupuncture services for most children
remains limited because few acupuncturists treat children and few insurance
companies provide full coverage for services, Kemper said. "Many
pediatricians rarely think of acupuncture as a therapeutic option due in
part to the lack of training in and familiarity with acupuncture," Kemper
said.
Another large factor is that pediatricians subscribe to conventional wisdom
that children are afraid of needles, Kemper said. "Our studies have shown
that children suffering from severe, chronic pain may be willing to try this
alternative," Kemper said. "Many patients who receive acupuncture treatment
remark on how much less painful it is than conventional needles and many
acupuncturists use a variety of non-needle techniques to stimulate
acupuncture points."
Although many children's hospitals -- including Brenner Children's Hospital
-- do not currently offer acupuncture services, Kemper says she hopes that
as more acupuncturists become available in more mainstream clinical settings
and as insurance plans are encouraged to cover the treatment, pediatric
access will grow.
