At a glance
Severe hip pain from a five-year-old skiing injury resolved after three treatments, along with her headaches and clicking jaw.
Presentation
A 46-year-old patient had hurt her left hip skiing five years earlier. The hip was very painful when she sat down, moved her hip or leg, or walked for more than five minutes. She also had a clicking jaw and headaches.
Diagnosis
- The hip pain was deep at the bone level in the hip joint, on the Gall Bladder (GB) meridian, with Qi stagnation and blood stasis.
- The headaches were due to Qi stagnation on the Urinary Bladder (UB) meridian at the back of the head.
Treatment
- For the hip pain — HT-1 (Jiquan), with the needle inserted deep enough to touch the bone at the shoulder joint, using Dr. Tan’s balance method, because the Heart meridian can balance the GB meridian
- For the clicking jaw — Linggu, with the needle angled so its tip touches the bone, to help the jaw joint (TMJ) regain normal function, and LI-4 (Hegu), angled toward Linggu to help the soft tissues that move the jaw
- For the headaches — KD-9 (Zhubin) and KD-10 (Yingu), using Dr. Tan’s balance method, because the Kidney meridian can balance the UB meridian
- Herbal medicine — the formula Shen Tong Zhu Yu Tang, to break up blood stasis and relieve pain
Result
- The hip pain was completely gone once the needle was inserted at HT-1
- The headaches were gone after needling KD-9 and KD-10
- The jaw stopped clicking after needling Linggu and LI-4
Each problem went away completely during treatment, but because she had lived with them for years, they returned at a much milder level a few days afterward. Over the course of treatment the pain and other problems became less and less severe and finally disappeared.
This reflects an individual patient experience, not clinical trial data.
Results vary from person to person depending on the condition, its severity, and how an individual responds to treatment. TCM and acupuncture are not a substitute for care from your physician or another regulated health professional. If you’re dealing with a serious or urgent symptom, please see a doctor first.