Ways to treat a child without needles? Part 1 - Cupping
The idea of bringing a child to an acupuncturist is new to most parents. Many parents are hesitant about how the child will respond to the needles. There maybe concerns that the child will be afraid of needles or that the needles will be painful. In reality many children of all different ages are happy to have needles and many find the treatment relaxing and soothing. However, it may take time for a child to feel confident enough to get to that stage and for some it just never feels right. Luckily we have many other techniques that we can use which are also extremely effective. These include low-level laser, medical massage, Moxa, various types press tacks and magnets, and cupping.
In this post I want to delve a little into cupping to give you a better feel for what cupping is and when we use it.
When treating children we prefer to use suction cups made from biocompatible silicone (as opposed to the glass fire cups we sometimes use for adults). This method of cupping gives us a high degree of control over the degree of suction and feels gentle to the child. The three ways we use the cups are;
-static cupping, a cup is placed over a point and left for the duration of the treatment, for a younger child this might be for just 2 o3 minutes for an older child it maybe for a longer period of time
-sliding cupping, oil or balm is rubbed into a large area or along a channel for the cups to move over.
-Flash cupping - a cup is pulsated over an area to move stagnation .
We most commonly use cupping to:
expel an external pathogen, especially for the onset of a cold
loosen phlegm
help in the treatment of asthma and chronic cough to move the qi (energy) in the chest
help in painful conditions to move stagnant qi (energy) and blood
Cupping is powerful technique that we use for many of the children we see in clinic.
If you would like to find out more about how we treat children please drop us an email children@blossomtreeclinic.com or message us at WhatsApp button.
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