Pediatric integrative medicine at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital is shown to fill gaps in care by offering non-drug pain control, emotional-regulation strategies, and tailored support for complex conditions like long-COVID and ME/CFS within a whole-health, patient-centered model.

UH Rainbow’s Connor Whole Health Pediatrics Program operates as a self-governing integrative service inside the hospital, blending lifestyle changes, herbal medicine, cognitive strategies, and bodywork with conventional care.

A study led by University Hospitals Connor Whole Health highlights how combining complementary therapies with standard care helps address needs of children with complex conditions.

Among anxious patients, non-pharmacologic approaches were favored, with about a third using Chinese herbal treatments and incorporating Traditional Chinese Medicine insights and coping techniques such as cognitive reframing, breathing exercises, and dietary changes.

The care model emphasized non-pharmacologic and cognitive-behavioral strategies—reframing thoughts, controlled breathing, lifestyle changes—alongside Chinese herbal therapies within Traditional Chinese Medicine for roughly 30% of patients.

Study leaders stress the importance of diet and lifestyle changes, herbal medicine integrated with conventional care, and a holistic whole-health framework guiding priorities.

For long-COVID–related fatigue and ME/CFS, interventions included pacing, low-dose naltrexone, family-friendly, minimally processed diets, and probiotics for diet/antibiotics–linked dysbiosis; about 30% had vitamin D deficiency.

Long-COVID–related anxiety sometimes required pharmacotherapies like antihistamines, illustrating a blended approach of conventional and complementary modalities.

Nutritional management focused on nutrient-dense, family-based diets, targeted vitamin D supplementation for deficiency, and probiotic use guided by dysbiosis, with light therapy for seasonal mood disturbances.

Key leaders, including Kristi Artz, emphasize that the whole-health model aligns treatments with patient and family priorities to improve care quality and outcomes.

Dr. David W. Miller led the study, underscoring pediatric integrative medicine as a home for complex patients and the safety and value of integrating herbal medicine with conventional care.