A 42-year-old female AAA beach volleyball player presented to my office last Friday with severe pain in her elbows for 5 months. Her symptoms occurred after taking Ciprofloxacin for 5 days and became so bad that she had been on disability for the last 4 months. After talkin to her volleyball buddy, an intern of mine, and her girl friend, an acupuncturist in the area (a friend of mine as well), she decided to drive from Santa Cruz to see me in Sunnyvale.

Based upon her symptoms, I decided to us MCT with needle retention on LI & SJ channels. She felt good relief over the weekend to the point she was able practice volleyball a bit with her friend. Of course, it was not a surprise when she told me a ball knocked off the needle retained at LI-6. She and her boyfriend claimed she had no more severe night pain that used to wake her up frequently. For more information on Cipro and tendonitis, please visit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000878

Clinical pearls-

• Think twice before you take a strong medications
• Do some medical research on the side-effects
• Consider alternative solutions to your health issues
• Talk to family, friends, co-workers for acupuncture referrals
• Go to Yelp.com if you want to make your own choice