Moving Blockages

Undoing a Person’s Life so the Body Heals Itself

Damaged Finger/Nerve

30 year old helping out a drunk mate at a night club came off 2^nd best with the bouncer.   He was left with pins and needles in the left thumb and forefinger and reckons he has full mobility though it is a great nuisance as it is totally getting in the way of his rowing – 6 days a week – and has put on heaps of weight and can’t do everything he used to be able to.

Neurologist says learn to live with it. Also – that it might come back to full usage within six months after the nerve regrows. Also an elbow restriction . . . and local pain along the arm – physio mate says to keep massaging trigger points . . .

I could have just popped some needles in the finger and be done with it, but after the amazing changes I am seeing through being thorough when it comes to scars, I decided to do everything .. . . He had been referred by some physio mates who thought that acupuncture was worth a try.

When we were quite a way into the treatment, he actually said that his mate the physio said to go to an acupuncturist – and if he wasn’t a good friend, he would have a go at it himself – but felt an acupuncturist would do a better job!!!

I put him on his front and palpated all sore points along intervertebral spaces = all above Bl 17 – and he said they always sore because of his rowing – I reminded him that he hadn’t done any for 3½ months . . .

As the body is a unit and everything is attached to everything else, I figured that being thorough couldn’t hurt.  Possibly this comes from having been taught by a chiropractor, for three years at acupuncture college = structure determines function.

Plus having had four children, any time I have had problems in any baby or toddler function, the chiropractor or the osteopath were the first port of call and they always did stunning work. Having also been allied in clinics to chiropractors, I know where the two can help each other and also that over the past 40 years I have used a structural person to go where the needles seem to be blocked .. .

Hence everyone gets a structural component to their session – regardless of what they have actually arrived for. Even of the condition that they came in with is still there on leaving, at least the credibility is easy – when the stiff and sore neck/whatever they thought not to mention is also gone.

What Happened – first session . . .

1 – I needled the sore Bl 62 (MP of Du Mai).

Figured that the head lock he was in couldn’t have been great for the rest of his body either . . .

2 – Sore points around Si 11 and 9 were also needled.

3 – I had palpated the occipital wind points, then bled the finger/thumb ting points (the ‘real’ one, the tip of the digit and then on the other side of the nail . . and palpated all of the sore points again – and most were no longer sore – or along the spine – so I then needled those that were still.

Of course he was so blown out about the change in sensation – almost NO pins and needles after I cleared the blockage in the meridian flow – so the fact that I had also altered what was sore was a bonus . . so for the rest of the session I did not really get much sense out of him – he was ecstatic!!

He had come out of hope, knowing nothing about acupuncture, and just more to have tried it – hoping something might make it slightly more liveable . .. he said that the amount of time he has spent in physios and so on was ridiculous – he just wanted to get his life back!!

The surgeon had said had he needed the sensation in the tips of his digits for work – being a piano player or something, she may have done something . .

4 –Needled all the little scars on the elbow (old skate boarding incident and the various index/thumb ones.  I ensured they bled on taking needles out. (Blood follows qi).

5 – Needled Gv 14 and Bil Bl 11, Bil 17 and Bl 18, and moxa on Gv 4.

When he rolled over, he was so impressed – his dodgy shoulder was better also!!

6 – L TH 5, Co 11, R Gb 34.   Put the web needles in between the affected digits and also.

7- When he sat up, I did some massage on the back of the neck around GV 14, and he continually couldn’t believe that there was little elbow involvement, his shoulder was OK and he felt as though he had just got out of the water – he rows 6 mornings before work to release stress – and his body felt as it did after that!!

8 – Took him outside to the moxa area, and waved my magic wand over the scars and on Gv 14 – and he was rapt!!

Some loss of sensation in the thumb, but all tips back together; no pins and needles, and the entire structure wonderful!

Discussion

Getting the circulation going again usually means we don’t have to do any ‘diagnosis’ – just undo what is blocking normal . . .

Why BL 62?

Using MP of the Du is helpful for freeing up also the aggression that would have been present – the Eight Extras act as reservoirs and hold what is too hard to neutralise to a later date – and I figure as part of the treatment, should I be able to help that out, it is one less thing messing with the circulation of Qi and Blood.

Strange use of “Ting” Points

I have been a bit aggressive about structural work as initially 30 years ago the really elderly and arthritic used to be the acupuncturists’ bread and butter- a what I learnt with them was to be effective – a second of pain is soon forgotten when the body part is freed up enough to use again comfortably.

Regardless of what the classics MAY say about bleeding – especially when the elderly, high summer or whatever. I figure that clearing a meridian is needed to remove the blockage.  I ALWAYS ensure that there is a hint of red before I give up here – this means it is not enough to prick it – and I use lancets – as the one that doesn’t bleed is stick – and this is also diagnostic – what meridian and you may use the Xi Cleft point of the one least wanting to bleed – to further get circulation going.

Why Back Treatment First?

The circulation from the nerves and the GV has to be moving in order to get anything else invigorated.  Whilst the body is seen in bits from the WOM perspective, we as an acupuncturist do not need to do the TCM thing of being involved in organ pathology – it is patently is a superficial thing that needs working through here.

Why Moxa on GV 4?

To get the general circulation moving through – same for the use of the points that were blocked, and the Bl 17 and 18 – to allow the shock/liver involvement to dissipate.

Is this not over Treating a Finger?

Possibly – but he is not a finger – he is a whole unit and as such has been over looked by the medicos – we do not need to do the same thing.  As he was so reasonable, and I could see nothing outstanding, on his tongue, he was one of the few people I have needled recently who missed Liver 2.  He was telling me of his life and his work, and he seems to have a handle on himself and stress – so left that go and ‘Just’ attended his finger . .

BIG MISTAKE As there was so much he shared and all of it was HUGE . .
He spent some time with me and as the wise village woman I have always been . .

I was there ..

Digressing – back to finger ..

WHY Co 11, TH 5, opposite GB 34?
Great combination I was taught in college for any arthritic problem and hence I use with any structural issue.

WORK WITH MOXA?
It is part of any treatment as it s acupuncture AND moxibustion we are doing – and the smokeless stuff just does not do it. Whenever I use moxa it improves the outcome – no need for ‘evidence’ – as am results based . . is experience based . .

What Next?

Possibly ear needles – again on the spinal area as we don’t know what is stopping normal nerve circulation –and a head lock in an aggressive encounter could easily have done more damage which may not be obvious yet. Also my variation of prolotherapy – needling whatever is blocked – so whatever hurts when running the course of the meridian –and this is AFTER the Xi Cleft points which have been ignored so far.

Why is it Important to be Thorough?

if we as acupuncturists were really proficient healers, government agencies, as well as streams of patients would be at us to help them.  The mediocrity in all aspects of medical assistance is such that there is HEAPS of scope for us to shine – and we can – if we look at what is in front of us – and go with what the body tells us.

A simple matter of understanding the ‘plumbing’/wiring or whatever you see the meridians and hence normal energy flow being.  A great help here is realising that the Eight Extras supervise, regulate and maintain the flow of Qi and Blood in the twelve main meridians (p 69-71 Acupuncture – a Comprehensive Text).  Although this vital information is not mentioned or alluded to again, it does go to show that even in TCM there is still a mention of the REAL acupuncture if you go looking.

To assist you with this, perhaps look to my 1993 3x hour seminar on the Role of the Eight Extras, (part of the Transformative Healing package – see below) which will assist you to think more of meridian flow.  It has a questionnaire to do before and after it – to show you where you may have altered your perception of what you can do in clinic.

All my teaching is results based, and itself is based on my 40 years in clinic, writing under and post graduate courses for the last 37 years, and having followed a few masters about when they came to Australia in the late ‘70’s/early ‘80’s – so it is filled with what is NOT available in texts. What works is what patients, and our profession needs . ..

Stray Thoughts

This then leads to the questions that really underpin the reasons I started with this case –

What is different about what I did with this man’s finger over what you would have done?

How does this differ from what his physio friend may have done?

Why would his friend have thought to send him to someone with a better handle on the process of being an acupuncturist?

(As in – back then – dry needling was making a debut). I shudder to think what would have happened.

I have so many photos of the different scars and the stories they told to allow him to get better – part of this was the cupping all the cold out – as he had iced his wrists for about a year – each night – and had just worked out how to do it as he did not get wet from it overnight!!!!