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A patient broke her wrist last November and had it surgically treated with a plate and a few screws. Noting her bone was not healing well about two months later, her surgeon prescribed the use of a bone growth stimulator twice a day, for 20 minutes each session. Subsequent x-rays taken on May 10th, however, did not show any sign of healing.
Concerned about the non-union of her left radius fracture, Annie began exploring alternative medicine. She came in to see me for her first appointment on June 19th. Based on my previous experience with other patients, I recommended acupuncture, in particular, MCT twice a week for 2 weeks then once a week for two more weeks followed by a re-evaluation with imaging tests. Time flew! Over the last few weeks, she felt better with reduced pain and swelling, and, happily, also returned to her yoga practice. On July 17th, she had a follow-up visit with the surgeon, who was not aware that I was treating her with acupuncture. Upon reviewing her x-rays taken that day, her surgeon was surprised to see that her fracture was healing up. Happy and excited, Annie blurted out, "Acupuncture really works!" "What?!" the surgeon exclaimed. Then Annie disclosed that she had been receiving acupuncture treatments for her non-union. Her surgeon shook his head in dismay and said, "No, no, no, it was the bone stimulator that helped." Annie brought in her x-rays to share with me and said she stopped using the bone stimulator that day after she saw the surgeon. This is yet another case of bone non-union that improved within weeks with the help of MCT acupuncture. I was very excited for Annie and her rapid healing. However, Annie was very disappointed as was I that her surgeon remained in denial of acupuncture's effectiveness in promoting her rapid healing. I could not help but ask myself, “When will we see more doctors accept acupuncture as an effective alternative to traditional treatments…and seek win-win-win outcomes in our health care system?” Frank He, L. Ac., QME, DAOM Edited by Tom Rigoli
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 It was a Wednesday evening around 8:30 pm that I took a call from a patient of mine. She said her six year old daughter had been experiencing severe abdominal pain for about 20 minutes and wondered if she could bring her in to see me for urgent care.
I asked if her daughter ate or drank anything cold with dinner and she said her daughter did drink a glass of cold milk. After learning that her daughter was not running a fever and that the pain was in her lower left abdomen, not the right, and thus eliminating the possibility of appendicitis, I told her to try something simple that might relieve her daughter's pain and save her the trouble of driving to my house or office. I told her to measure out a bowl of rice, put the rice in a sock, and heat it up in a microwave for two minutes. Then apply this rice bag over her abdomen where it was hurting for five minutes and call me back to report the outcome. She called me back in about 20 minutes and said her daughter's pain went away completely. She was so happy, thankful, and surprised a bowl of rice could provide this miracle remedy. Yes, a bowl of rice can do a lot for our health. When cooked it gives us energy. When heated it can help relieve bruises and joint pains. And in this case, a bowl of rice relieved a patient's abdominal pain and saved her a trip to the emergency room, an unknown amount of waiting time, and a stack of medical bills. Frank He, L. Ac., QME, DAOM Edited by Sarah Tang, MTCM Intern at HeCares |
AuthorsAcupuncture Specialists at Integrative Medicine Center Archives
April 2023
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