How I Treated Pain with Needles | 【真实病例】一针治愈腰痛

Today the clinic is packed again. Among all the patients, 6 came for various degrees of back pain condition. Because our clinic is kind of secluded, many patients found us as their last hope. Many of them had complicated problems, but we are honored to have their trust.

After two sessions on 11 am, my assistant Allison told me there were three people waiting for me. It was Lilian and her parents---they were my patients before. I went to Lilian and talked to her. She told me her mom had been suffering from serious back pain for two days that she cannot stand up or walk at all. Her mom was sitting in the chair, and she could only turn her face to look at me at me for the greeting.

Ten minutes later, I was in the treatment room, talking to the old lady. She told me she got the pain after standing up after sitting for long two days ago. She could not move around since then. I asked her where she felt the pain. She tried to point to me the spot, but she could not quite reach it because of the pain.

Therefore, I pressed on her spine and found the spot. I told her to sit still, and I inserted one needle in the renzhong point (which is below the nose). Then I told her to try to stand up, and she stood up---both she and her daughter were surprised. Then I told her to keep moving for around 10 minutes. She did, and felt much better. At last I finished the session with some light needle-bloodletting therapy. After the session was done, the old lady was very happy, and could not wait to tell other people waiting in the reception area.

After lunch break, at 2:06pm, an elderly couple arrived at clinic. Every time they came, the old gentleman liked to talk about their love for dancing and how Vancouver used to have many great places for dancing before television was there---they used to dance as much as they could. This time, when I saw the lady, she was a little crippled and had a hard time trying to keep standing. I took her to the session room, she told me she had been suffering from back pain since last winter, and the pain had been expanded to right foot. Her back problem had been ongoing, and she also had osteoporosis. She came to me when her situation became a little more serious, but it had never been as serious as this time. I kept asking her questions, while I checking out her pain spots---which I found to be behind the thigh and on the outside of calf. Therefore, I inserted four points on her left hand, and one point on her right hand. Then I asked her to try to move her leg and waist. At first she needed my help to stand up and move, and she could only move her shoulder. I encouraged her to keep moving, and after several minutes she could move much more. Finally when she felt much less waist pain, I let her lye on the bed, and inserted needles on her waist for 10 minutes. After the session was done, she stood up, and did a dance posture with a big smile on her face.

Around 3:30pm, an elderly Chinese couple showed up. They were scheduled to come next Monday, but probably because of the language barrier between them and my assistant Allison, they came at this time. Because they came unexpectedly, I could only spare 30 minutes with them .I greeted them. They said they were from Shanghai, and they were introduced by a friend. The lady had herniated discs, and this time she came because her right thigh had pain that she could not walk properly. They had tried to go to hospital and other TCM doctors in Vancouver and Shanghai, and did not have much result. I checked the lady, and I found her pain point was below trochanter major. Other symptoms were: big toe piercing pain during night time, dark face color, dark skin color behind the knee, bad sleep, and anger control problem. Therefore I pierced a needle at her qiuxu point, and let her move for 10 minutes. The pain did not go away, so I pierced a point on her toe, and did pain point needle-bloodletting. This time she felt less pain. Then I pierced needles at her juliao point, yangling point, and taichong point, and kept needles for five minutes. This time the lady felt much better and she could walk much more smoothly. All of us were happy for them.

The rest of the sessions today went well too: a patient suffered from herniated discs had been recovered 80% after four sessions; a patient who had chronic work-related waist pain had shown obvious improvement after five sessions, while he kept working; a lady’s knee injury had been almost recovered after three sessions.

I am grateful to have these kind patients. I am amazed of how acupuncture can help them. I am also grateful to have these kind patients. Being able to help my patients is the most valuable thing for me.

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2015 年七月22日星期三，又是个忙碌的一天，病人一波接一波的。连续两天以来都是来看腰痛的病人，今天就有六个不同程度的腰痛病人前来就诊。因为诊所的地理位置较偏，大多数病人把这里当成最后一站，疑难病症较多，但也很荣幸有病人对我的信赖。

早上十一点钟刚看完两个老病人，我来到前台，把病例交给我的助手Allison小姐，我一眼就看见了在等候间等待的三个熟悉面孔，Lilian和他的父母。Lilian是个非常能干的成功女士，她来跟我打招呼，说这次是她的妈妈扭到了腰，已经两天不能动，指明要来看你。以前我就帮她妈妈看过其他的问题，也很熟悉。她的妈妈坐在椅子上，眼睛示意同我打招呼，看起来活动困难。我跟他们讲我先看前面一个病人，之后给他看。

十分钟后，我的助手已经把他领到第二诊室，我进去问了一下情况：原来是两天前久坐以后起身时突然出现腰部剧烈疼痛，不能起身不能活动，任何活动都受限，现在就坐在我的诊床上动都不敢动。我就问她哪里痛，她用手指给我的时候因为疼痛也不能完全指到，但她的风湿膏明确告诉我非常疼痛。我用手按诊在她腰部3/4/5，脊间明显压痛，我就让她坐好别动，我给你扎一针，穴取人中。扎进去后让她站起来，她一下就站了起来，她的女儿一下就笑出了眼泪，你怎么就站起来了那？老太太也乐了：我怎么站起来了呢，刚才在车上都下不了车，别人帮忙都不让帮。我说现在再左右活动10分钟，她就开始活动，活动了几分钟后发现腰痛越来越轻，活动范围越来越大，诊室充满了喜庆的氛围。我就让她继续活动，我出去记录病历，回来让她到诊床上，这时她已经不费劲地上到床上。之后我再局部采用了刺络治疗，五分钟后结束治疗。病人眉开眼笑跟先生述说经过，并且也跟非中文语言的其他病人讲。

下午两点钟我有点累了，吃了西瓜，真是爽！两点6分，这对英国老夫妻才到，这对于他们来讲迟到是第一次，因为每次都提前来。老绅士声音洪亮并带有浓厚热烈的伦敦腔，他们都喜欢聊天，经常讲过去的温哥华和他们跳舞的好时光。以前没有电视的时候在温哥华有好多舞场，这些欧洲的移民爱好跳舞。这时可以看到老太太走路缓慢、有点不稳，我把她领到诊室。她说自冬天以来腰就开始痛，并且连到右腿。她的腰背是老问题了，退变骨质疏松，严重了就来看我一下，像这次这么严重还是第一次。我看她有点站立不稳，思考可能因为年纪大或者因为疼痛，她一边跟我讲她的病变过程，其中也夹杂着很多生活信息。我一边检查了她的疼痛位置和经络，发现集中在大腿后及小腿后外侧，于是我就取左手腰痛4穴，和右手后溪穴，让她活动腰及腿。刚开始站立不稳，活动很局限，只能感觉到肩膀在动，有时还需要调整体位以防摔倒，几分钟后腰部可以动了，腿部症状明显减轻，继续活动，氛围也开始活跃了。她又开始讲一些故事了，告诉我就在我的诊室不远的地方就有一个中文教堂，我知道这里有意大利教堂和教会学校，却从不知道还有一个中文教堂，而且在上世纪五十年代就有了，他们曾经在那里跳舞。在腰痛明显减轻的情况下，我让她躺在诊床上，取了常规补肾的穴位留针十分钟。病人起身后满面笑容，来到前台，我跟她开玩笑说：你可以去跳舞了！她果然做了个跳舞的动作，行动自如。

上午时分接到一个中文电话，Allison小姐把电话递给我，原来是一个先生为他的太太约时间，一点英文都不会讲。星期五的时间已经约满，就约了下个周一，但在三点半的时候两个老人就出现在我的前台。我刚出来，发现他们不讲会英文，就跟他们打招呼。他们说是朋友介绍来的，上午通了电话。Allison告诉我只有半小时的时间，我就简单地问了下他太太的病情，原来是右腿大转子处痛，走路时加重，CT显示腰椎间盘突出，现在走路有点僵直和坡行。我当时就想他们满怀希望而来，且年纪偏大又不会讲一点英文，我必须要帮他们，因此把他们领进诊室。他们开始跟我说病历和治疗经过，他们来自上海，到这里已经有20年了，在上海和温哥华都让中西医治疗过，没有效果，经一个朋友推荐来看我。我发现病人的痛点在右侧大转子偏下处，并且有大足趾半夜刺痛，病人面色黯无光，膝窝处皮肤黯，病人睡眠差，易发脾气，因此诊断为肾虚血瘀症，当即于丘墟穴出扎一针，让她活动十分钟，疼痛没缓解，遂取大拇指，及痛点刺络。这时病人感觉明显轻松，再取巨髎，阳陵泉，太冲三穴得气后，留针5分钟，针用泻法。这次，病人立马感觉了一身轻松，走路明显好转，心情大好，两夫妻俩一直在说感谢的话。

我很高兴能帮助到病人，也感谢他们如此的厚道。其实这都是针灸医学的伟大，而我学到的才一点皮毛。往往治疗好的病人我容易忘掉，但没治好的病人总记在心里，忘不掉。就是这些可爱淳朴的病人才让我们这些医生有了存在价值，帮不上治不了真的是医生的过错。

对余下几个腰腿痛病人的治疗也都效果明显给力，一个腰椎间盘的病人在四次治疗后已经康复80%，一个慢性工作损伤性腰痛病人在还坚持工作的情况下，每周一次治疗了，五次后明显改善，一位空姐的膝盖运动损伤，在三次治疗后基本好转。

这天的治疗很特别，病人都是腰痛症状，用的是不一样的方法，但效果相同，因此我愿意把这点心得与同行及大家分享，让更多的人相信针灸。