Japanese Pediatric Acupuncture: Questions and Answers
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Can I be in the room with my child?
Since Chinese Medicine considers human touch to be an essential part of the healing process, parents are encouraged to be present with their child during the treatment. Infants especially can be held in their parent's arms while the treatment proceeds.
Parents love Shonishin. Not only can they see almost immediate results for some conditions, but they can participate themselves in their child's healing process. Certain simple techniques can be taught which the parent can do with as simple a tool as a toothbrush - and kids often really enjoy having their parents treat them right before bedtime.
How long is a Shonishin treatment?
Because children respond so quickly, treatments often take a quarter of the time it would take to treat an adult - usually no more than 15-20 minutes.
When should I bring my child in for a treatment?
Children, like adults, should come for treatment at the onset of symptoms or soon after a Western diagnosis has been established. Often, though, parents will bring their child in for Shonishin when other treatments have been unsuccessful.
Preventatively, parents can bring their child for monthly "tune-up" treatments as they do in Japan - on or around the full moon. In Japan, it is traditional for children to have monthly preventative treatments on or around the full moon to keep their child's immune system healthy and to prevent Lurking Pathogens from leading to chronic problems later in life.
Thanks to Sensei Miki Shima and Sensei Koei Kuwahara for information, seminars and personal support.
Bibliography
Birch & Ida: Japanese Acupuncture, A Clinical Guide, Paradigm
Publications, Brookline, 1998
Fukushima, Kodo: Meridian Therapy, Toyo Hari Medical Association,
Tokyo 1991
Shima, Miki: The Channels Divergences, Deeper Pathways of the Web,
Blue Poppy Press, San Francisco, 2002
Elyse Tera, BA., D.Ac., Dipl.Ac. is a professionally trained acupuncturist and shiatsu therapist who specializes in classical Japanese acupuncture. She is a member of the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in the United States.
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