Health and Disability

Treating adults with chronic pain has its difficulties, but treating children with the condition is even more challenging; there is little evidence on effective drug therapies for chronic pain in children, and health professionals are often wary of providing certain treatments to youngsters because of their vulnerability during growth and the fear of possible long-term health implications.

"Effective treatment of pain can be particularly difficult because it's subjective; but with children, it is increasingly difficult because a child may not be able to communicate effectively depending on the age and accurate recognition of pain," adds Johnson.

Each participant attended eight sessions in which they received an individually tailored acupuncture treatment, with each treatment lasting around 30 minutes.

Using the Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool (APPT), participants rated their pain and nausea before and after each treatment. The APPT asks patients to disclose pain areas through a body outline diagram and describe pain intensity through circling words such as "no pain" and "worst possible pain."

The researchers found that participants reported a significant reduction in pain throughout the entire eight sessions and from the beginning to end of each individual session, with greater pain reduction reported in the earlier sessions.

What is more, through the completion of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, the researchers found patients experienced improvements in overall health and reductions in social, emotional and educational problems.