Shonishin Pediatric Acupuncture is a non-invasive form of bodywork that originated in Japan in the 17th century. Shonishin focuses on gentle, specialized, mostly non-inserted treatment techniques that children find comfortable and even pleasurable. Shonishin techniques involve rhythmic stroking, rubbing, tapping, and pressing the skin to give different kinds of gentle stimulation. These techniques harmonize and fortify the child's vital energy, and strengthen the child's constitution. Dramatic results can be obtained even with very light treatment.

Does Shonishin hurt?

This form of Acupuncture is based on the idea that any distress to a child is likely to interfere with any positive healing effect and recognises that children just don't like needles. So the rubbing and tapping is quite painless and most children enjoy the experience and become very relaxed during treatment. There are however times that only a needle will do, if this is the case then extremely fine needles are used and a painless method of insertion is employed. Depending on the child I might just show the parent that I want to needle and not involve the child at all, this usually leads to the child not even knowing that they have had a needle in.

What conditions can Shonishin Acupuncture treat?

Shonishin is used to treat a wide variety of problems. The following list includes the most commonly treated conditions:

• irritability, impatience, excessive crying at night in infants;
• hyperactivity;
• attention problems in small and school age children;
• dream disturbed sleep;
• indigestion;
• diarrhoea;
• constipation;
• allergies;
• chronic stuffy or runny nose (from repeated colds and/or allergies);
• asthma (including allergic asthma, exercise induced asthma);
• weakened immune system - the child that catches cold frequently or has recurrent viral infections;
• bedwetting;
• stammering or stuttering;
• weak constitution, including infants with inadequate weight gain, frail children that are not as active as others;
• rashes, for example nettle rashes; urticaria; eczema;
• hernia;
• neurological problems resulting for example from polio, cerebral palsy, spina-bifida;
• ear infections, usually chronic and repetitive;

What to expect from a Shonishin treatment

Treatments for children are actually very brief: a typical treatment generally lasts only five to ten minutes. Generally speaking, the older the child, the longer the treatment.

Parental Involvement at home

Acupuncture offers a real alternative to medication in the treatment of all kinds of childhood health problems. Behavioural, emotional and physical problems can all be treated using acupuncture.

An enormous benefit in this type of treatment is that parents can actively continue treatment at home. After one or two treatments in clinic I can judge how the child is reacting to the treatment and will be able to show the parent how to apply any treatment at home on a regular basis, this often has extremely good results.

I often use small pellets on a plaster to stimulate a specific acupuncture point which I then ask the parent to replace every few days. This may sound strange but it is actually a very effective treatment