CHLA using CAM therapies in their Pain Clinic

[holisticpedsRN]

Here is a link to a great interview with the Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) Pain Clinic director that includes a lot of references to the CAM therapies they use.

LINK: http://www.wetreatkidsbetter.org/2014/04/pain-management-clinic-provides-relief-for-kids/

"Gold: I believe that medications and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices (like acupuncture and massage) will always have a place, side-by-side, especially in the management of chronic pain. The goal is to always treat patients with the least invasive methods that produce the least amount of side effects, with the greatest functional gains. Combining CAM therapies with medication strives to achieve that goal."

With children especially, if they can use massage or acupuncture to decrease dependence on pharmaceuticals and/or decrease dosages, that's tremendous.

I really enjoy seeing examples of this holistic approach to treatment being utilized by large, established teaching/research hospitals. I heard CHLA will be publishing some significant research results from their pediatric acupuncture program soon. Stay tuned!!

[sergel02, BSN]

I will have a research paper in the future to write, and I think researching the effectiveness of CAMs for patient's pain along with more common Western medicine will be an interesting topic. I see a lot of opposition to cams, but then I see those same people encourage pumping patients full of every pill. Many of these people don't work in medicine, so I don't know if they are aware that all medicine carries side effects, so it's not a simple manner of taking another pill.

It's interesting to see it in children, and I'm interested in seeing how effective it is for the kids and their parent's anxiety.