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Anonymous
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 - 12:35: | |
Hello everybody. I wonder if any of you have had any experience treating a meniscus tear resulting in pain and pronounced inability to use the knee/leg. I am a practitioner working in Greece. Thank you - this seems a great forum.
Achiles Linos |
Jan Jedryka
Username: Jan
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 11:50: | |
I wonce locked myself out, and being a idiot, I decided to go through a window. Just as I was balanced on the ledge looking for somewhere to put my feet, a cat, who had obviously entered by an upstairs window took a flying leap at the same space I was occupying, so I fell, my foot found the armrest of a chair, which overbalanced and the corresponding opposite armrest hit me at the level of the knee dislocating it badly. I allowed myself to fall onto the floor screaming. This kind of injury would be crutches, weeks of immobilisation, diathermy and weight bearing exercise even when the knee was still very painful maybe even surgery.
It happend on friday night. I was able to walk by monday. That is impossible except that it is possible.
Dr Guy grant, a friend of mine, was born in the orient. His father was a ship builder and one day the supports of a ship gave way and crushed the legs of a worker. We are talking tons here. The good doctor, knowing his surgery, knew the correct, humane, and patently obvious thing was to amputate. The family of the worker simply would not allow him to do so. The good doctor was amazed that in 6 months that worker was walking again.
Torn meniscus - piece of piss! as an australian might say. Why I tell you this story, is to reinforce the fact, that nothing beats sound and correct intervention. The trouble with a lot of treatment eg I had for my dislocated knee during a rugby game when I was a teenager was "too much tea and coffee for the therapist"
1. Nourish the particular tissue involved. I used Comfrey and a Calcium/Magnesium mix.
2. Control the pain.
3. Check for Ah shi points among the Mu and Shu and known distal pain control points. Like Bl-62.
Knees mean Liver/Kidney/Spleen Bladder/Gall bladder/Stomach.
4. Treat daily untill they can walk with joy.
It is always better than surgery.
The problem is often the secondary gain that people get from being sick and incapacitated.
It wasn't till a patient walked into my surgery and wanted me to treat his inoperable pancreatic cancer that I realised the importance of a question a classical acupuncturist used to ask all his patients. "Do you want to get better?" He would get that important commitment from his patient and he would not treat a person who did not answer this answer correctly.
The last torn menscus I treated was a friend of mine about 3 weeks ago. Saved him a lot of pain and suffering, and surgeon's fees.
PS: This belongs in the joke section I know but I can't resist it. What does a person say when you press a painful spot? "Ahhhhh Shiiiii.......t"
Have I given you enough to go on with?
Jan. |
Shmuel Halevi
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 11:59: | |
People unfamiliar with acupuncture, or new to its "miracles", often are overwhelmed by the "unexplained" favorable outcome in cases where surgery is supposed to be the only and ultimate solution. So is the case with the meniscus tear incidence, or a slipped/protruding disc on the spine, various shoulder problems and more.
How odd that it may sound, ruptured meniscus is most often treated with great success by acupuncture, resulting in return to normal functionality of the knee, disappearance of pain and of the incapacity that this syndrome involves. Better more, it cancels the necessity to operate the knee, as advised by conventional medicine. Since this is a local injury (either abrupt or a lingering problem), it does not involve (usually) intricate patterns of disharmony, nor exceptional diagnostic skills, or the use of complex Chinese medical approaches such as "stems and branches", "five-phases" and others. What it does need, is an excellent needle handling, decisive manipulations.. and experience.
The meniscus phenomenon, involves a damage to the meniscus itself (tear, erosion, dryness, etc.), and a consequence of local inflammation, and edema to some degree. This is a blood-stasis syndrome, complicated with heat and sometimes damp-heat. Thus, the treatment technique must be blood quickening and dispersion. Since the syndrome involves pain and a marked reduction in mobility, the needle manipulation should be carried out strongly to the patient's endurance, and as frequently as possible, i.e., daily – at least until a marked improvement is registered.
The most important points are always St-35 Dubi and the other "eye" of the knee: Xiyan. These need to be inserted deeply, until a marked deqi is felt, radiating happily around. Another point is an extra one, located along the meniscus stitch and parallel to it, under the skin, in an oblique insertion, until a pronounced soreness is felt around the point. Other helpful points for the lateral meniscus are: G-34 and St-34, St-36, Li-4 and more.
The second procedure which has invaluable importance for this syndrome, especially when needles are failing to bring about the 100 % results, is blood cupping. We have discussed this topic already on this forum so I'll skip the details. The cup should be placed over the most tender area of the knee, and should suck the blood in large quantity. I.e., 25-30 % of a middle range cup. Usually 1-3 sessions will bring about the desired recovery. |
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Lateral meniscus tear