Daily acupuncture treatment for acute pain

Eric Goodchild shares his recent experiences of treating a patient daily for acute pain.

Last September, my wife and I took the car ferry to Santander in Northern Spain and drove home over the Pyrenees and up through France. En route, we had arranged to stay with some old friends in Southern France for a few days and knowing that Dick had been suffering from fibromyalgia I remembered to pack a box of 200 needles…more.
On the first morning as we were about to leave our Hotel in Pamplona, my wife twisted as she bent to pick up her case and screamed in pain. She had prolapsed a disc in her lower back and couldn’t move. I managed to support her to the car and make her comfortable and we set off over the mountains to our Friends house. By the time we got there she was pale and exhausted from the journey and very immobile.
Fortunately in our bedroom there was a sturdy table exactly the right height and dimensions to make an impromptu treatment couch so I was fully equipped to start a program of treatment. I treated her twice a day for the next 4 days and the results were spectacular. By the fourth day she was walking normally, able to get up from sitting without assistance and sleeping comfortably. She had made the sort of progress normally achieved in a month with acupuncture once or twice a week.
I continued on our return home to treat her each day for the next 10 days and she continued to make excellent progress until she “forgot’ about it and re-injured the disc moving heavy boxes around in the attic! Luckily it was not a severe aggravation and we were back on target within 24 hours.
It is a rare opportunity to be able to give very frequent treatments for acute pain conditions.
Because of the cost and time constraints it is far more usual for patients to opt for 1 or 2 sessions per week. This has therefore become the normal recommendation.
My experience of treating my wife has made me re-think this protocol. Much more frequent treatment allows much more speedy and complete recovery. I will be recommending this to patients in the future.

acupuncture therapy chhc cheltenham

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