The Little Toe
A couple of weeks ago I was giving a treatment to a lady that was experiencing a lot of tension/tightness in her right hamstring. She has been coming in for treatment to resolve hip pain from a car accident, so hamstring pain was not completely unexpected.
My treatment and the results were unexpected, from her perspective at least.
I told her I was going to stick a needle in her little toe. She absolutely did not believe it would have any effect, I think she was just willing to humor me.
On the edge of the little toe, if you drew a line up the toe-nail edge and a cross line across the top of the toe-nail, where the two lines cross is UB-67 the end of the Urinary Bladder meridian. This point has some amazing properties; it clears heat, eliminates wind and is an empirical point for malposition of the fetus. [That is another amazing treatment, you would "burn moxa" on UB-67 for 10 minutes every other day. The little one will turn over into his or her correct position. Truly fascinating.]
The treatment I gave the other day comes from the understanding that the UB meridian follows the pathway of the 'hamstring' muscle group. By needling that point it causes the qi to move. Stagnant qi creates pain, and or disease.
SO here I was, holding a needle over the corner of her little toe. I insert the needle and stimulate it for less than 10 seconds. This is NOT a comfortable, pleasant point to get needled. I remove the needle and ask her to stand up. I see this look of "Yeah, right, that is going to change anything..."
My patient stands up and walks across the room. She says "Oh, My God!!!" The pain was gone. When I saw her yesterday she said the pain NEVER came back. It was over. Sometimes it is truly amazing what one needle in the right place, at the right time can do.
So, what do you all think of that? A little off the wall, but par for the course with me...
My treatment and the results were unexpected, from her perspective at least.
I told her I was going to stick a needle in her little toe. She absolutely did not believe it would have any effect, I think she was just willing to humor me.
On the edge of the little toe, if you drew a line up the toe-nail edge and a cross line across the top of the toe-nail, where the two lines cross is UB-67 the end of the Urinary Bladder meridian. This point has some amazing properties; it clears heat, eliminates wind and is an empirical point for malposition of the fetus. [That is another amazing treatment, you would "burn moxa" on UB-67 for 10 minutes every other day. The little one will turn over into his or her correct position. Truly fascinating.]
The treatment I gave the other day comes from the understanding that the UB meridian follows the pathway of the 'hamstring' muscle group. By needling that point it causes the qi to move. Stagnant qi creates pain, and or disease.
SO here I was, holding a needle over the corner of her little toe. I insert the needle and stimulate it for less than 10 seconds. This is NOT a comfortable, pleasant point to get needled. I remove the needle and ask her to stand up. I see this look of "Yeah, right, that is going to change anything..."
My patient stands up and walks across the room. She says "Oh, My God!!!" The pain was gone. When I saw her yesterday she said the pain NEVER came back. It was over. Sometimes it is truly amazing what one needle in the right place, at the right time can do.
So, what do you all think of that? A little off the wall, but par for the course with me...
posted by Michael Clifford, L. Ac. | 1:34 PM
2 Comments:
Hi I love your thoughts and experiences regarding your practice. I am a nurse who is going into massage therapy. Keep writing!!
This was fascinating. Also, because you wrote (at least a little)about getting a fetus to change position. If you could find the meridians on horses or cows you could make a fortune helping to make livestock birthing a lot easier.
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