New research by the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) 2016 National Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco shows that more and more children are paying visits to the emergency room because of headaches.
“Overall, we are performing fewer computed tomography scans, which spares our children from receiving radiation exposure,” says Dr. Regina Toto, study co-author and pediatric chief resident at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. “At the same time, we are providing more medications to children with headaches than we have in the past.”
Naturopathic doctors play a significant role relating to this issue, because they can provide alternative remedies to those younger patients who have exhausted medication for their headaches. Explain to patients the natural solutions that are out there, depending on their specific case, and what seems to be triggering their headaches. Although there hasn’t been research created as of yet that explores a direction behind the reason of this increase, it’s causing a growing problem.
Dr. Toto and primary study author Michelle Perry, MD, pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, have both agreed, “it is not uncommon to see patients and parents that have missed significant amounts of school or work because of chronic headaches.”
“Our findings show a worrisome trend, and we need to figure out why so many children are ending up in hospitals with headaches,” Dr. Toto said.
