The Pediatric Pain Management Clinic at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) has announced its collaboration with Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in creating a pediatric acupuncture program to help children manage chronic pain. The collaboration was initiated by Drs. Wendy Yu and Brandon Horn, along with Drs. Daoshing and Maoshing Ni of Yo San University working with Dr. Jeffrey Gold, Ph.D., Director of the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic.

The program, which began in January 2009, provides an opportunity for Yo San University interns to obtain clinical experience at Children's Hospital, a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Southern California. “We are excited to bring acupuncture to the patients at Children's Hospital Los Angeles,” says Johnathan Heywood, Yo San University’s president. “This is an extraordinary opportunity in integrative medicine that offers our students another layer of richness and opportunity in our unique program.”

There are also plans to develop joint research projects and studies in integrative medicine, combining acupuncture with Western medicine in pediatric care and treatment. A paper recently published by Dr. Jeffrey Gold and his colleagues in the journal Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine concludes, “Given the promising trends in the
current acupuncture research, the relative willingness of families to engage in acupuncture and the low risk of deleterious side effects, acupuncture may serve to harmonize Traditional Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine as a means of promoting preventive care and symptom management for children.”