Acupuncture for Respiratory Conditions

Acupuncture Program faculty member Ann Cecil-Sterman (‘03) sees many pediatric patients in her Manhattan practice. So far, most come for treatment for asthma and other issues common to children, such as coughs and cold. Though her approach is gentle, one cannot help but admire Ann’s use of the powerful potential of acupuncture, which she also uses with her own children.

The use of acupuncture for any condition means embracing not only a complementary therapy, but also a view of the body that values its dynamic interplay of energetic functions. The view of asthma in Classical Chinese Acupuncture involves lung function as well as the kidney’s ability to “grasp” the lung energy. That is, the kidneys are seen as assisting the lungs by supplying energy that helps pull down the diaphragm muscle that allows for inhalation. Because cold can weaken both the kidney and lung functions, Ann feels it is important to consider the energetic effects of everyday lifestyles.

“I feel that asthma is a problem in many more children now because they come home from school and have cold drinks and eat cold foods straight from the refrigerator,” Ann explained. “They don’t dress adequately for winter weather and in the summer they live in air conditioning. Today’s children are also exposed to a good deal of tension, which, because it constricts the muscles, has an effect similar to cold.”

Ann’s approach to asthma incorporates both acupuncture and dietary changes. “I have found the principles of Chinese medicine to be highly successful with pediatric asthma cases when acupuncture treatment is combined with dietary changes,” Ann said. “When people call to make an appointment for their child, I recommend that they eliminate dairy, gluten, sugar, and cold and raw foods from the child’s diet. Some children improve so much just with the dietary changes suggested, that they don’t even need to come in. Others respond with one or a few treatments. Children have had very little damage done to their network of meridians, so they respond very well to acupuncture.” 

Acupuncture is high on the list of CAM therapies that people turn to for asthma. An Australian summary of 17 studies found the level of acupuncture use for asthma ranged from 4 percent to 79 for adults compared to 33 percent to 89 percent level of use for children.¹ While published reviews in Switzerland and Turkey² found claims for effectiveness not based on well-performed clinical trials, both called for more high quality research. As one study concluded, “Lack of evidence does not always mean that treatment is ineffective, but could mean that effectiveness has not been adequately investigated.”³

View of Fever

In her practice, Ann also sees children who have a litany of other common issues, such as ADHD, upset stomachs and fevers. “The concern with a fever is that you don’t want it to get too high or last too long,” she explained, “or it can lead to seizures. However, the body creates a fever to destroy bacteria and viruses; it can burn things out of the body that we don’t want. While I don’t want to eliminate a fever completely, it has to be kept under control. When my son was still an infant, I used an acupuncture point on the foot (Stomach 44) and did a gentle reduction technique that brought down the fever right away.” This kind of approach is typical of acupuncture strategies, which aim to assist the body in its innate healing process with little or no dangerous side effects.

She did this at home

Ann credits her education at the Swedish Institute, in particular lectures on the Eight Extraordinary Vessels given by the dean, Jeffrey C. Yuen, for making her feel ready for her own childbirth. Though she had prepared for the home birth of her first child by having a warm, dimly lit environment that would be welcoming, things didn’t go quite as planned. Her labor, which lasted 50 hours, was difficult.

“The midwife knew that the baby was distressed,” Ann recalled with clarity. “So we prepared for that, and placed acupuncture needles around the house so I would be able to help no matter where I wound up giving birth.” When the baby finally emerged, he had no heartbeat or lung function. The midwife performed CPR on the baby and got him breathing. Then, within a minute or two of giving birth, Ann did acupuncture on her newborn. “The doula held him while I inserted three acupuncture needles*. As soon as I had inserted them the baby immediately turned pink. The doula and midwife were astounded by that, because they had predicted that he would have a blue tinge to his skin for weeks.” Her story illustrates how such a seemingly gentle therapy can have such a dramatic effect. Today, her son Ravi, four years old, is robust. Fourteen months ago, Ann gave birth to a daughter, Miriam, who was welcomed into the same warm, dimly lit environment, where this time everything remained calm.

*Ann selected three acupuncture points to use on her newborn: Lung 7 (on the right arm to bring the breath out to the extremities), Lung 1 (just below the lateral end of the right clavicle) to stimulate lung function, and Governing Vessel 26 (in the center line of the face between the nose and upper lip) as a general resuscitation point.

Ann Cecil- Sterman can be reached at www.classicalacupuncture.com.

¹ Slader CA, Reddel HK, et. al. "Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use in Asthma: Who is Using What?" Respirology. July 2006; 11(4):373-387.

² Token Y. "The Use of Complementary and Alternative Treatment in Patients with Asthma." Tuberk Torak. 2006; (54(2): 189-196.

³ Steurer-Stey C, Russi EW, Steurer J. Swiss Medical Weekly. June 2002; 132(25-26): 338-344.

License Information >