Ten Year Old Boy Suffers from Chronic Migraines:
An Acupuncture Patient Healing Success Story
I'm often asked by my acupuncture patients if children can benefit from acupuncture therapy. My answer is a resounding "Yes!” We've successfully treated many children for a host of maladies here at the Acupuncture Center of New Jersey. Everything from anxiety, bed-wetting, eating disorders, insomnia, and virtually all types of pain, headaches, bruises, sprains, strains and even broken bones / fractures. Acupuncture speeds up the healing process for nearly every injury children encounter.
A recent patient of mine exemplifies the power of acupuncture for children. Kenny (not his real name), a 10 year old boy, experienced frequent migraine headaches every day for 4 months when he initially came for acupuncture. He was missing school regularly and was unable to participate in his favorite sports, foregoing soccer, baseball practices and games.
Mainstream medicine diagnosed him with intractable migraines, but was not effective in helping him reduce his pain and return to his daily activities. He did not respond to pain medications prescribed by his pediatrician and neurologist. As with many of our young patients, Kenny’s parents convinced him to try acupuncture.
Our initial acupuncture exam found that Kenny did not have common triggers such as diet; he had already eliminated caffeine, sugar, chocolate, etc., or allergies. While he is allergic to tree pollens, a variety of antihistamines provided no relief for his migraines. Hormonal changes had been ruled out. Kenny had experienced changes in sleep patterns and body temperature after a concussion he had over a year ago. Since then he has been much more sensitive to changes in weather (barometric pressure, high humidity and windy conditions). So our acupuncture treatment plan focused on Kenny’s headaches caused by the physical head and neck trauma he'd suffered from the concussion.
Does your kids have a concussion? Click here to read more tips for parents
Kenny responded to acupuncture very well. After two treatments his headaches had disappeared. He returned to school full time after two weeks. And after 7 acupuncture treatments the only time he has had any head pain was after being hit by a pitch in his baseball game. 9 weeks after beginning acupuncture treatment for his migraines, he has returned to a full schedule of activities, including sports. He's now on a maintenance schedule to help prevent future headaches and for general wellness optimization.
While this may seem like a "miracle cure" response to acupuncture therapy, it is actually much more common than people realize. Young people respond very well and quickly to acupuncture because their healing or Yang energy is relatively pure and active on the surface of their bodies. Gentle needle or laser stimulation makes it easy to treat children and teenagers. Acupuncture is increasingly utilized for the treatment of common pediatric disorders including headaches and many other problems. Here at the Acupuncture Center of New Jersey in Morristown, we are seeing more young people willing to try gentle acupuncture treatments. For those children who are afraid of needles we often use non-invasive laser treatments.
