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On pins and needles? Pediatric pain patients' experience with acupuncture
K J Kemper1, R Sarah, E Silver-Highfield
1Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and the Center for Holistic Pediatric Education and Research, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. kemper_k@a1.tch.harvard.edu
Insights
Pediatric patients with chronic pain found acupuncture pleasant and helpful. Most experienced symptom improvement, suggesting acupuncture is a viable complementary therapy for children with severe pain.
Area of Science:
- Integrative Medicine
- Pediatric Pain Management
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Background:
- Acupuncture use is increasing as a complementary pain therapy.
- Pediatricians rarely consider acupuncture due to perceived patient unacceptability.
- This study explores pediatric pain patients' experiences with acupuncture.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe pediatric pain patients' experiences with acupuncture for chronic pain.
- To assess patient and parent perceptions of acupuncture's acceptability and helpfulness.
- To inform pediatricians about patient experiences with acupuncture.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective case series design.
- Telephone survey of 47 pediatric pain patients and their families.
- Qualitative and descriptive data analysis.
Main Results:
- Most patients (70%) and parents (59%) felt acupuncture helped symptoms.
- The therapy was rated as pleasant by most children (67%) and parents (60%).
- Common diagnoses included migraine, endometriosis, and reflex sympathetic dystrophy.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric patients with chronic, severe pain found acupuncture pleasant and helpful.
- Acupuncture may be an acceptable and beneficial complementary therapy for pediatric pain.
- Further prospective studies are needed to confirm cost-effectiveness.
Introduction:
Despite its increasing use as a complementary therapy to treat pain, acupuncture is rarely considered by pediatricians, in part due to perceptions that it will not be acceptable to pediatric patients. We wished to describe pediatric pain patients' experience with acupuncture treatment for chronic pain.
Design:
Retrospective case series.
Methods:
Subjects were pediatric pain patients referred by the Pain Treatment Service at Children's Hospital in Boston, who went to a pediatric acupuncturist. A research assistant not involved in the patient's care conducted the survey by telephone. Data were analyzed qualitatively and descriptively.
Results:
Of 50 eligible patients, 47 families were reached by telephone; all agreed to be interviewed. Patients had a median age of 16 years at the time of referral, 79% were female, and 96% were white. The most common three diagnoses were migraine headache (n = 7), endometriosis (n = 6), and reflex sympathetic dystrophy (n = 5). Patients had a median of 8 treatments (range: 0-60) within 3 months (range: 0-48 months); 85% of families paid out-of-pocket. Acupuncture therapies included needle insertion (98%), heat/moxa (85%), magnets (26%), and cupping (26%). Most patients and parents rated the therapy as pleasant (67% children/60% parents), and most (70% children/59% parents) felt the treatment had helped their symptoms; only 1 said that treatment made symptoms worse.
Conclusion:
Pediatric patients with chronic, severe pain found acupuncture treatment pleasant and helpful. Additional, prospective studies are needed to quantify the costs and effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for pediatric pain.
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