A patient I've been treating for a shoulder injury agreed to
allow me to share her acupuncture experiences.
About six months ago, the patient experienced a work injury
causing a shoulder trauma. The final result was an internal
tear and bursitis. She received conventional medical care and AOM
treatments of acupuncture and herbs. She felt the AOM treatments
decreased the pain and increased her range of motion
temporarily.
Eventually, the patient decided to have surgery, as everyone
thought it was in her best interest. Three weeks after her surgery,
she had another shoulder tear, but in a different location. Surgery
was not an option and her MD recommended she receive AOM treatments
again to aid in healing, range of motion and decrease the pain.
The patient has been receiving these acupuncture treatments on a
non-routine basis for her shoulder injury here at NUHS for over 6
months and reports positive results. She lives out-of-state, so she
only receives treatments when she is able to travel to Illinois,
per her choice. She says she feels most comfortable receiving
acupuncture treatments at the NUHS clinic and is not interested in
going elsewhere for her AOM care.
I have included a picture of an NUHS clinic room to help
make
this patient's experience more vivid for you as you
read.
In the pictures, some of the acupuncture points are shown. Two
very important points are her local shoulder points, jian qian and
LI15. These points have been painful for the patient. Each time
they are needled, the patient has a different tolerance level for
them, and for the depth she can handle them being placed. She also
has a range in her tolerance of the ability to handle them being
manipulated.
Manipulated means moving the needles around to help stimulate qi
and blood flow. This helps create an immune response to aid in the
healing process. These points are partnered with several other
distal points, points further away from her shoulder. Only a couple
distal points are pictured. All this points work as a union to
create a healing effect. An example of a distal point is liver 3,
the point needle on her foot. This point helps move the qi and
works very well when partnered with other points in her treatment
plan.
In addition to her acupuncture treatments, she has been
recommended to take an herbal formula that is pictured. This
formula, Jian zhou tong pian, is specific for treating bodily
trauma. It helps the tissue repair itself.
So far, the treatments have been reported as successful by the
patient. She has reported a decrease in her pain level. She reports
this pain relief lasts well after the end of the treatments. Since
she has recently restarted her AOM treatment plan, her range of
motion has not been reevaluated. I have a positive prognosis for
her since she is having instant results shown by her rapid decrease
in pain level.