Summary
Acupuncture, Clinical study, Enuresis,
Incontinence, Infantile encephalopathy, Mental handicap,
Physical handicap, Spastic paraplegia. At a hospital
for children with severe mental and physical handicap
where the incidence of nocturnal enuresis exceeds 88%,
a group of 128 children between the ages of 5 and 19
years (65% of those resident) were treated with acupuncture.
The overall response showed good or very
good benefit for 29% of patients, while 44% had none.
The most responsive age group was the 10 to 14 year
olds with 50% success; there was no difference between
boys and girls. Children with the most severe mental
retardation and those with day time faecal and urinary
incontinence responded less well. The benefit felt by
the whole hospital community at the reduction of bed
wetting was substantial. The author believes that acupuncture
for enuresis in mentally and physically handicapped
children is an effective and worthwhile treatment.
Key words
Acupuncture, Clinical study, Enuresis, Incontinence,
Infantile encephalopathy, Mental handicap, Physical
handicap, Spastic paraplegia.
Iuliu Floares MD
Str Vasile Alecsandri nr. 90
5500 Bacau, Romania
Note
This study was awarded a prize at the Fourth Conference
on World Traditional Medicine held in 1998 in San Francisco,
USA.
