How do we approach children’s health in the Blossom Tree Children’s clinic?

How would Chinese Medicine be any different from treating my child with other alternative therapies? And how do we approach children’s health in the Blossom Tree Children’s clinic? If you are curious to know more read on!

One of the (many) reasons I love Chinese Medicine is its unique approach to diagnosis and treatment of illness. I am going to try to briefly explain how it differs from western medicine and some other therapies and how we make a diagnosis in the Clinic. At its heart, Chinese medicine is a preventative medicine. The skilled doctor in China was one who understood both the condition and its cause. One of the key things we look for when making a diagnosis in the children’s clinic is the causative factors in a child’s life. A chronic illness rarely arises out of the blue and will usually stem from various factors (both internal and external) which have culminated and woven into the fabric of the child’s individual story. Some of these factors might include:

• Diet

• Emotions

• Exercise

• Sleep

All of these factors give us clues to what is going on and the causative factors of the disease or imbalance. As well as this we use other forms of diagnosis including:

- Taking the child’s pulse·

- Looking at their tongue·

- Looking at the complexion·

- Feeling the temperature of the belly·

- Noticing the strength of the voice·

- Lots of questioning about sleep, digestion, etc.·

- And lots more!

This allows us to piece the puzzle together and make a diagnosis. In Chinese medicine no illness is exactly the same and 2 children with the same western medical diagnoses could have a very different Chinese diagnosis. We would treat these children very differently in our Clinic. For example, two children come into Clinic with a cough. At school perhaps parents might talk about “a cough going around”. Absolutely coughs and viruses go around, but in the case where a cough is lingering around or recurring we would question why this is and look at the underlying causes and the constitution of the child, each case will be different. Here is an example of how our diagnosis might differ in the clinic:

1st child: Has a Hacking cough with yellow mucus and the child is still full of energy with a big appetite and running around with lots of energy. Her tongue has a thick yellow coating. She might be given a diagnosis of “Phlegm heat” in the Lungs.

2nd child: has a weak cough with a small amount of clear mucus which is relatively easy to expectorate. He has a small appetite and a wet tongue with toothmarks. This child would be given a diagnosis of “Lung and Spleen Qi deficiency”.

In clinic we would treat these children very differently and give different lifestyle advice.

I hope this gave you a little insight into Chinese medicine! If this approach makes sense and speaks to you and you would like to bring your child in to the clinic for some health support or have any questions please visit:

www.blossomtreeclinic.com/childrens-clinic

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5Nisha Toppin, Lyndon Hadley-Coates and 3 others