Conversations with Dr. Duckworth: Acupuncture & Kids (pt. 1)

Q: Tell us about children and the practice. How often do you see them as patients and what are their expectations?

A: The evolution of Oriental medicine, in general, is that it addresses the basics of what the Chinese call qi and the Japanese call ki, the vital forces, the vital energies that make up the function of cells. The medicine originated as a preventive health care system. It's only in modern times, in the west, that it's been used to address disease and dysfunction. Originally, it was used to maintain proper function, before the dysfunction arose. Sometime back in history - with what I call the original HMOs - an entity (a family, a clan, a village, a tribe) would collectively hire a physician to care for them. They all paid into the pot. Everyone put money into his or her purse, and if everyone in the village became sick, they were cut off completely. It was the job of the physician to keep the group healthy, not to get them healthy. Which is quite different than what we have nowadays.

The aspect of treating children is the same, this aspect of preventive health care. In modern times, we are stuck with unhealthy people, post-healthy people. In what we see children for, we have post-baby wellness clinics. We treat children for allergies, inner-ear problems, digestive issues. A child I'm treating has Tourette's syndrome. We deal with asthmatic conditions, hyperactivity, food allergies. A broad spectrum.

There is a technique that we use in our practice, and that I teach to other practitioners, called Shonishin. It developed in Osaka, Japan, about 300 years ago. It's a system of very gentle, non-invasive use of the acupuncture points. We don't use needles, we use stimulating tools, basically rubbing the skin to bring energy to the surface. Shonishin is very effective for very many health issues and health maintenance. We use a very generalized system. In Osaka, they treat children around the full moon, bringing children in for therapuetic work.

We need to emphasize that we do a lot of work around infertility, pre-natal care and something most people don't pay enough attention to, post-natal care. For the first year after birth, we're going to offer a program to help immune the child's immune system, digestive system.

As a broad statement to your question, about 12-15% of our practice is pediatric. We work with a lot of children.

Q: With that group, are there expectation from them, at their age? Are they pretty open-minded to what work you'll do?

A: Kids often will get in the car and go wherever mom and dad tell them to. They often don't have expectations. Those aged seven-on-up can be more inquisitive. "What are you doing? Why?" I've had occasions when children eight or nine have said, "I don't want Shonishin, I want the needles!" They've been insistent on getting the acupuncture needles. Children from birth up to age seven tend to come in simply because somebody brought them. They're not as philosophical or meditative on it. They go to a doctor and do what a doctor tells them to do.

Children here can be reticent because I'm a stranger. And there's more hands-on medicine. Some of them very much appreciate that. Years ago, I had a 17-year-old who was interviewed about this medicine and she said, "Oh, I love it." And I asked why and she said, "Because they touch me. It's not a doctor sitting across a wide, wide desk just asking questions. There's someone actually in there investing themselves in me." Granted, she was 17, and not seven, but she had that appreciation for hands-on medicine.

I work with a couple kids who are super-hyperactive. Some parents bring in kids for other such issues. One kid with hyperactivity can't hold still or even stay still on the table, doesn't have any hesitancy getting on the table for treatment. He actually looks forward to it.

While kids don't have high expectations, they don't have disappointments, either.

(Part two of this chat coming on Wednesday.)