Mothers get an Earful of Relief from Acupuncture During Kids' Surgery

Newswise — Walking on pins and needles is nothing new to parents whose child is to undergo surgery. But according to a recent study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, needles— strategically placed in areas around the mother's ear — can significantly decrease unwelcome anxiety in both mother and child during critical operative procedures.

In an unfortunate chain of events seen by pediatric physicians every day, parental anxiety increases the anxiety of an already distraught child before surgery, which in turn can have enormous detrimental effects on the child's postoperative behavior and clinical recovery.

According to Shu-Ming Wang, M.D., lead researcher of the extensive three-year study on auricular acupuncture at the Yale University School of Medicine, acupuncture has long been known to relieve stress and anxiety. Until now, however, it was not known that needles placed around the ear were so effective in relieving parental anxiety, a constant and very real concern for physicians preparing a child for surgery.

Dr. Wang said that the procedure was greeted with much skepticism by the majority of the mothers, but the results were indisputable.

"After the insertion of needles into the auricular area, most of them were pleasantly surprised and asked, 'Is that it?!" Dr. Wang said. Dr. Wang said the procedure involves small needles that resemble flat thumbtacks. They are unobtrusive, effective, have no side effects and are virtually painless. "Many of the patients laughed after I showed them the press needles, and only a handful of them experienced a slight stinging sensation." In the study, two groups of mothers were observed before, during and after surgery on children. One group received the auricular press needles, and the other control group received needles in other parts of the ear. Overwhelmingly, the mothers with auricular press needles experienced less anxiety.

Even more convincingly, Dr. Wang said that "at the end of the study period, but while participants were still unaware of which group they belonged to, significantly more mothers in the treatment group requested to keep the press needles in place."

Dr. Wang stressed that although this lack of anxiety in mothers is desirable in and of itself, the real benefit of a relaxed mother is to the child. It is well-documented that increased parental anxiety leads to adverse postoperative effects such as clinging, nightmares, bed-wetting and aggressive behavior.

Parental stress, Dr. Wang said, can be a nightmare for all involved and, in rare cases, actually dangerous. "In one documented case, an anxious parent actually pulled a semiconscious child away from the middle of an anesthetic induction, prompting the entire operating room team to chase after the patient," Dr. Wang said. "I personally have witnessed crying parents enter a child's operating room, which invariably causes the child to cry and affect the procedure. All this anxiety distracts health care providers' attention away from the most important person in the procedure, the child." In one incident, a mother fainted during a procedure and injured herself.

Although the exact scientific mechanisms by which acupuncture works are still unclear, Dr. Wang's study, with countless studies before it, proves that acupuncture works and that its usage is growing in anesthesiology practices and elsewhere. Considering that press needles are so unobstructive, painless, effective and cause no side effects, it is no wonder that this study had such positive results, Dr. Wang said.

"I do not believe that acupuncture is for all illnesses and symptoms, but I strongly believe that if we can combine the best of acupuncture with the best of allopathic medicine, we will achieve the best care for our patients," Dr. Wang said.

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