People suffering from heel spurs and plantar fasciitis know the suffering that they endure and the lack of effective treatment options.  I suffered from plantar fasciitis at one point and there was no options that I found appealing other than time and rest.  I am grouping the 2 conditions together since they are similar in symptoms and treatments.  I have seen more than a few patients who were diagnosed by different docs to have both conditions.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine we look for patterns to understand and to treat disease.  Based upon the pattern found, we determine where to place the needles.  In my treatment of patients suffering from this pain, I determine that it is a regional pain problem (heel/plantar fascia) and treat accordingly.

My preferred method of treatment for these conditions is SUJOK acupuncture.  The first case of heel spurs I had seen after taking my SUJOK class taught me just ow powerful the technique could be.  A woman in her 40’s came limping into my office, obviously favoring one foot over another because of the pain she was in.  She told me she had tried everything from orthotics to cortisone shots and nothing was helping her. 

The treatment began with an intake including diet, lifestyle, sleep and the other questions typical of my intakes.  Since nothing else was substantially out of balance and her foot pain was severe we moved right ahead on working on the heel.  I had her point out the tender spots on her foot for me and i pressed to verify that I had the right direction and location to elicit the pain.  Once my location was good I kept my palpating hand on the most tender spot.  I then began pressing the correspondence point on her finger and re-palpating the point until the pain was approximately 70% less.  I inserted 1-2 needles into the finger point and palpated 1 more time.  I did this with all of the tender spots on her heel and then had her stand (while I supported her in case she got needle shock) to verify that the pain was substantially reduced.  I completed the treatment by needling the corrsponding  joints, spinal segment, brain segment and KD points.

The needles were left in place for 30 minutes, and upon removal I taped buckwheat seeds on the main treatment points.  I explained to her that although she may feel better after the end of treatment, we won’t know how well the treatment will hold and at the next session, we will determine what adjustments (if any) should be made to hold the treatment longer.

The second treatment was excellent.  She reported a substantial reduction in pain.  She was still limping, but she said the pain was much less sharp, and she was very impressed with the results.  The next 3 treatments were essentially the same as the first, although some of the locations may have varied a little.  After 4 treatments in 3 weeks, she was no longer limping and felt the spurs were gone.

A few months later I saw her when her husband came in with a shoulder problem.  I asked her if she could write me a testimonial – which she enthusiastically agreed to do.  While she was writing it, she stopped and looked around as if searching for an answer to something.  I asked her if there was a problem.  None at all – she had just forgotten which foot it was that had caused her all that pain for over 2 years!!!!!

As an acupuncturist, I see a lot of conditions (and patients) that Western medicine can not offer help to.  One of my recent patients came to me with shingles on her face.  The region covered went from the entire area under the left eye, all the way down the cheek to the area above the upper lip going right to themidline .  She also had pain inside of her mouth and to her tongue.  The pain was burning and severe.  The area affected was red and angry looking.  Her doctor had told her she should expect the pain to last from 3 months to up to a year.  Other than that there was not much that he could offer to work on the pain.

The first treatment I took a relatively conservative approach.  I wanted to get her some relief from the pain.  My main objective was to gauge her response to acupuncture as well as to give her hope.  With that said I did not intend to use any smoke and mirrors or sleight of hand.  No power of suggestion, just her body healing itself.  I explained to her that I would be pressing distal points and they should act like switches to prompt her body toheal in specific areas.

I started with the inside of her mouth.  I pressed several points before getting marked improvement with SP3 and SP4 on the L side.  This resolved a lot of the discomfort inside her mouth, but therewas still residual pain.  To address the upper part of her mouth, as well as the area above her upper lip, i pressed LI1 and LI2 on the L hand.  This did not do much, but then I remembered the LI meridian crosses the face.  Upon palpation on her R hand, the paindecreased by about 90%.  There was still pain along the lower part of her mouth, and I addressed that using L ST41, and ST42.

The pain she ahd on her cheek responded very well to ST44 and 45.  She had some pain on the inner canthus and BL67 knocked that out.  she still had some pain on the lateral part of her cheek.  SI1 and SI2 resolved that.  the pain on the lateral part of her eye was addressed with GB40 and GB44.

By the time all of the needles were in she ahd numbness and tingling in her face, but barely any pain remained.  I left the needled in situ for approximately 1/2 hour.  After removing the needles, I placed seeds on the points I believed clinically most important and we set an appointment for the next morning.

She returned and had pain the next day, but it was less severe.  I put needles into some of the points I know to be effective and nothing happened.  I pulled the needles, and then found each of the points through palpation and testing, and then inserted.  THEN they were effective, the palpation and verification helped to activate the points.

After doing treatment 3x a week for 2 weeks the pain was greatly diminished and it was holding very well.

At this point I switched to using SUJOK.  I am not sure why i waited this long, but when I used the Sujok, the treatment went to the next level.  I used a reduce ST dry/agony treatment (as the remaining pain was mostly along the ST meridian).  On palpation of the points on her fingers, the pain was greatly diminished.  After insertion of the 4 needles, she said there was no pain, except a little on the lateral part of her cheek.  I inserted a needle in the correspondence point on her thumb, and there was no remaining pain.  On follow up, there was no pain.  This seemed to be the treatment to get it to stick.

Currently she is doing great.  It has been a month and she feels great and looking at her there is no redness, and unless you knew that just 1 month ago shehad a case of shingles that required 2 week in the hospital.

in health,

Chris