Questions for Dr. Duckworth: Youngest Patients?

Dear Dr. Duckworth,

How young are your most junior patients? What types of treatments do infants receive in your practice? I recently noticed a very young infant when visiting your clinic and was curious. Thanks, Franklin

Dear Franklin,

The youngest human I have read the pulses of and treated was about 15-minutes old. I was present in the birthing room, assisting her mother in the birth process (yes, with acupuncture and special bodywork). When she was born, her parents asked me to note her baseline ‘Jingei’ Pulse and perform touching diagnosis to assure she was functioning at her most optimal capacity as she ventured into life.

Since I do not attend births anymore, I must wait until parents bring me their infant. Quite commonly, a woman who has utilized my services as part of her pre-natal care, will bring her new-born to my practice within a few weeks of birth for a wellness check-up and energy balancing.

Unfortunately, most people, even many of my own patients, do not think to use Meridian Therapy as a preventive medicine and so, they do not bring me their young until the child is ill. Often they come to me AFTER they have gone to medical people who have pumped the poor child full of drugs and the condition has become chronic. Ben Franklin was talking about Kototama Meridian Therapy when he said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

The types of pediatric treatment include Shonishin, a system of stimulating the surface of the body, especially at ‘tsubo’ (“acupoints”) but also includes stimulating regions of the body in addressing certain issues; for example, stimulating the abdomen for digestive issues, rubbing the arms for respiratory problems, rubbing the legs for head colds, headache, back pain and leg/knee problems. There are tools of the trade that poke, brush, scrape and rub but I often go to the Dollar Store and buy a bunch of toothbrushes that I use as shonishin devices. I show the parents how they can treat their child at home and then I send them home with a shonishin tool that looks a lot like a toothbrush. Kids love the novelty and the involvement of mom and dad; they are more compliant, even reminding the parents to ‘brush me’.

We do a lot of Te A Te, Japanese Spiritual Handwork for structural problems, digestive issues, sleep problems, emotional issues, many issues. Te A Te is part and parcel of all my work, both children and adult.

Of course, diet definitely is part of pediatric care. The kitchen is the primary source of health and destruction. It is very common to find a child with chronic earaches who is consuming dairy products and dairy products with sugar (this combo is truly poisonous) or situations where the child is deprived of nutrition because packaged chewable crap, liquids saturated with high fructose corn syrup, McStomach rot and Toastee Pops. We treat everything except highly contagious diseases. What we deal with the most is ignorance, many forms of ignorance but that is treatable and I hope your letter of inquiry aids us in growth.

Thank you,

Dr. Duckworth