Interesting tough case!

[Armin]

Hi all,

I have a new client whom I have worked on for couple of sessions. Her story is very unique. She is young woman in her late 20’s She was born with a genetic condition which means her legs knee down are very slim with not a lot of strength there as the there is not much muscle mass. This means her angle joint are very unstable.

In addition to this, at the age of 3, she was in an accident where she got burned by hot water over her chest, shoulder and neck. There are lots of scar tissue in all these areas. She has had multiple surgeries as she has aged to help stretch the scar tissue and she is due for one in the next year or so. The scar tissue on her right shoulder is particularly bothersome as it makes turning her neck from side to side difficult and with pain. Not surprisingly, it’s her right ankle that keeps giving out on her and often.

She seems pretty at ease with her genetic condition with the weakness in the legs and says that hasn’t stopped her doing things in life. Perhaps because her father and couple of other siblings have the same condition and worse off for it, so doesn’t feel to bad about her case. But what does bother her is the scar tissue. She says every night it takes her some time to fall asleep as she thinks about the accident and why it had to happen to her.

The first session, I decide to do a sinew/scar tissue treatment to relieve some of the discomfort of the neck and open the shao yang sinew to release the stress of the right ankle. The scar tissue is so extensive that I didn’t use needles to surround it, opting to do gua sha on the problematic area.

At second session, she said her neck/shoulder tension did improve and felt her ankle wasn’t giving out as much. In the second session, I went for a yang Qiao treatment though was thinking of Lou and other options too.

Any recommendation on how to best handle the scar tissue situation as well as generally about this case would be appreciated. Also, with yang Qiao treatment, a lot of the points in the upper part of the trajectory fell on the scar tissue area without being to needle them. I stimulated the points with a blunt probe and my intention. Can we needle into the scar tissue!!!? I appreciate that this might be a silly question!

Thanks

[Antoine Mulpas]

Hello Armin,

An interesting case indeed, and quite a difficult one. I wouldn’t needle into the scar area, but maybe as you have done stimulate the point with intention. I wonder also how to locate the point correctly, as they move quite a lot and the scar tissue can make the palpation difficult ?
What does she expect from the treatment ? Is it a release of the area where the scar tissue is the most problematic and working on the ankle ? Or does she want to be helped on the emotional part following the accident when she was 3 ?
I’m thinking also about the Wei Mai, to help accept the past and try to let go of it (oriented more towards the accident). I don’t know if working with the Sinew can avoid the next surgery, it would be a wonderful result!
Antoine

[Armin]

Hi Antoine,

Thanks for your input. The client came back today for session three. I should say that she did originally come primarily for the ankle stability and strengthening. The scar tissue connection came from me. Anyway, I had actually tried yang Wei mai last session but wrote yang Qiao, though I’m sure both are applicable. I did the treatment based on gender and not worse side of discomfort, so the needles went on her right side. She said she felt much more stable in the right ankle all week and had actually gone away for hikes and felt pretty good about things all around. She had previously gone to Chiropractic and physiotherapy for many sessions but no results. The power of 8ev’s!!!

She did say that she felt her stronger side, left, was feeling like it needs attention. So today, I switched to needling on left, cupped Gb 29 and SI 10 on right.

We’ll see how it goes, but yes the scar tissue is pretty extensive and will likely require surgery, but I’ll see what comes up in future session.

Cheers.

[Antoine Mulpas]

Hi Armin,

That’s amazing ! I definitely have to think more about the 8x, I’m not quite confortable using them. Anyways, it is wonderful the effects on her, going on hikes after one session of 8x is quite a step forwards!
What is your thoughts about the actions of the Yang Wei on her ? And did it affects the way she’s feeling about the accident ?
I was brainstorming a bit about this case, and I wonder about using the first trinity. As it is an issue running in the family, it seems appropriate. I would go for Chong Mai, the fourth trajectory or maybe the fifth ?
Thank you for sharing,
Antoine

[Armin]

Hi Antoine,

The reason I ended up using the Yang Wei Mai was combination of her mental/emotional state at the time of the session as well as the trajectory of the channel, which would cover the Gallbladder channel, ankles, side of neck and hip; all the areas she was having issues. I think the Yang Qiao or even yin Qiao would have been good as well but she express that she had some worries and fears of the future about her own condition as well as that of her other family members who are afflicted by the same condition and are worse off and wheelchair bound. Given the emotional state, I picked yang Wei mai.

Yes, the Chong mai also crossed my mind for the same reason that you mentioned. I guess those are options for the future and based on pulse and the rest.

Armin

[Antoine Mulpas]

Hi Armin,

Thank you for the input, it seems to fit quite perfectly with her. I was reading back about the Wei Mai in the red book, and saw under the indications of Yin Wei Mai the stress about a disease running in the family, the anxiety of having it. Of course it something that she already has so it might be a different case, but I wonder if it could be useful in this presentation ? Anyways, if I had to choose I would have probably gone for the Yang Wei too.
Keep us informed about the outcome, I hope she will have all the quite amazing benefits of the 8X!
Antoine

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