I’m an acupuncture aficionado. I’ve had sessions once a week for over two years now and swear by its effects on my mind, body and soul. I’m also slightly obsessed with keeping my two sons healthy (did I just say that out loud?!), and recently started to wonder why I wasn’t treating them to the benefits of acupuncture. Then I remembered. Needles. Now I’ll be the first to tell you that acupuncture needles DO NOT HURT, but try telling that to a nine and 10 year old who won’t even let me use tweezers on a finger splinter.

So acupuncture fell to the back of my consciousness until I heard that Indigo Dragon Center had a new pediatric acupuncturist starting up. I was all ears. Would an acupuncturist specializing in children have a unique way of presenting the needles? Would he or she distract the kids with candy so they wouldn’t know what was happening? Actually, none of the above. Because in David Allen’s pediatric acupuncture they have ways to stimulate the acupuncture points without needles! A micro current modality — or “tickle machine” —  takes the place of the needles, while David let’s the child move around freely, totally putting them at ease. My son smiled and chatted away for 20 minutes and actually enjoyed the sensation of the micro-current machine. David asked some leading questions to understand my son’s constitution and any issues he may be suffering from and targeted his treatment accordingly.

Not only was it a walk in the park, but I saw a rapid improvement in some symptoms my son was suffering from shortly afterwards. Needless to say, we will be heading back in for more sessions.

WHY DO KIDS NEED ACUPUNCTURE?

The Pacific College of Oriental Medicine answer this question so perfectly, I’m just going to go right ahead and copy and paste it here: “A child’s bio-energetic systems are in the “yang” phase and not fully developed, which means their energy (qi) moves very quickly. Due to their rapidly growing bodies, infants consume large amounts of qi. This often depletes the organs most responsible for producing qi, which can result in hyper-stimulation and offers a fertile ground for health problems.”

WHAT IF MY CHILD CAN’T SIT STILL?

Let’s face it — none of them can! The good news is, because they don’t have needles poking out of them, pediatric patients can move freely. David usually has a box of toys to keep them entertained, or, as in the case of my son, will just chat with them throughout the treatment. Also, with shorter treatment times, the session is over before they’ve had a chance to get bored.

WHAT DOES PEDIATRIC ACUPUNCTURE TREAT?

A better question would be, “What doesn’t it treat?” Just like within the adult population, acupuncture can help with anything from the common cold, to asthma, to food allergies to autism.

HOW CAN A MACHINE TAKE THE PLACE OF THE NEEDLES?

Since the nervous system runs on electricity to conduct it’s signals, and acupuncture needles works because metal needles interact with this electricity, we can use mild topical electrical stimulation to do the job. All they feel is a mild “tapping” sensation on the skin. Kids love the “tickle machine”!