Yao Tong Xue
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting and treating a gentleman that has had severe back pain, steadily getting worse for the last 30 years. When he walked into the treatment room he was bent over, and shuffling along. I asked him "Is there any position you can get into that will be less painful?" He said "I have to lie face down." I got him into position as carefully as I could.
There are a set of points, located on the back of your hand; if you follow the gap between the bones from the knuckles towards the wrist, between the little finger and the ring finger, and the gap between the index and middle finger. Where the bones meet, or the gap ends is a set of points called "Yao Tong Xue" or Lumbar Pain Point. You know I have to love practical names, especially in acupuncture points.
These points have demonstrated empirical evidence that they reduce lumbar back pain. That is nice, but it does not really make sense from a meridian energetics perspective. But I do not care about that as any of you that know me realize. I care about results.
I asked my patient to quantify his level of pain on a 1-10 scale. I do not like those scales but they do have their uses. He replied if it could go higher he would give it a higher number. Very intense pain. The type where all your awareness is engulfed. Nothing except pain is in your awareness. I put the needles into the back of both of his hands, placed the heat lamp above his lower back and started asking his wife the questions for my intake form.
After about 15 minutes I asked him how he was feeling. He replied "All I am feeling is the heat on my back."
After the questions I proceeded into the rest of my treatment. He has had back surgery and has a neural stimulator in his back to minimize or over-ride the pain sensations. But he does not use that very much. He is on a phentonal patch (a morphine derivative pain killer). So that limits a few of the tools I would normally use.
At the end of the treatment, after I had removed the needles I asked him to gently get up and sit of stand ,which ever would be less painful. He sat right up. when he stood up he stood all the way up. His wife commented that she had not seen him stand that straight in YEARS. When he left he said he was pain free!!!
WOW.
I do not expect that to remain that way, in fact his pain returned somewhat 4 hrs later, but he is still standing more straight than before.
I will see him today and we will talk about healing curves. It is not a straight linear process. One improves then there is a 'set-back' of some kind or another and you slide back a bit. But the point you slide back to is almost always at a "higher" point than where you were when you started, then you continue back up the healing slope, and then you slide back a bit. And so it goes.
Of course that is not the way it always is. We all know there are some diseases where it is just the opposite. But it is great to have been a part of this transformational experience. I will encourage him to enjoy it while he can and to not have preconceived ideas of what his future holds. On either side of that possibility.
There are a set of points, located on the back of your hand; if you follow the gap between the bones from the knuckles towards the wrist, between the little finger and the ring finger, and the gap between the index and middle finger. Where the bones meet, or the gap ends is a set of points called "Yao Tong Xue" or Lumbar Pain Point. You know I have to love practical names, especially in acupuncture points.
These points have demonstrated empirical evidence that they reduce lumbar back pain. That is nice, but it does not really make sense from a meridian energetics perspective. But I do not care about that as any of you that know me realize. I care about results.
I asked my patient to quantify his level of pain on a 1-10 scale. I do not like those scales but they do have their uses. He replied if it could go higher he would give it a higher number. Very intense pain. The type where all your awareness is engulfed. Nothing except pain is in your awareness. I put the needles into the back of both of his hands, placed the heat lamp above his lower back and started asking his wife the questions for my intake form.
After about 15 minutes I asked him how he was feeling. He replied "All I am feeling is the heat on my back."
After the questions I proceeded into the rest of my treatment. He has had back surgery and has a neural stimulator in his back to minimize or over-ride the pain sensations. But he does not use that very much. He is on a phentonal patch (a morphine derivative pain killer). So that limits a few of the tools I would normally use.
At the end of the treatment, after I had removed the needles I asked him to gently get up and sit of stand ,which ever would be less painful. He sat right up. when he stood up he stood all the way up. His wife commented that she had not seen him stand that straight in YEARS. When he left he said he was pain free!!!
WOW.
I do not expect that to remain that way, in fact his pain returned somewhat 4 hrs later, but he is still standing more straight than before.
I will see him today and we will talk about healing curves. It is not a straight linear process. One improves then there is a 'set-back' of some kind or another and you slide back a bit. But the point you slide back to is almost always at a "higher" point than where you were when you started, then you continue back up the healing slope, and then you slide back a bit. And so it goes.
Of course that is not the way it always is. We all know there are some diseases where it is just the opposite. But it is great to have been a part of this transformational experience. I will encourage him to enjoy it while he can and to not have preconceived ideas of what his future holds. On either side of that possibility.
posted by Michael Clifford, L. Ac. | 8:31 AM
1 Comments:
This is a WONDERFUL story! I love it. If good wishes can help the man recover, it will happen, because he sure has all of mine!
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