Carpal Tunnel - Never Underestimate the Power of a Single Needle
Regardless of the ailment that is being treated in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the focus is always on treating the whole person. For example, a typical treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome would include placing needles on the body to unblock the energy pathways (meridians) that run thru the wrist, and also to place needles on the body that would have the function of nourishing and/or relaxing the tendons.
While acupuncture is extremely safe and using multiple needles usually puts the body in a profound state of relaxation, caution is indicated if the patient is extremely fatigued, hungry or emotionally distraught.
A few weeks ago, I had a new patient with an acute flare up of carpal tunnel syndrome. She arrived at my office in tears, stating that she had not slept in four days. She had not eaten at all that day. And her pain was so severe that she said she wished that she “could just cut her arm off to make the pain go away.” She said that it felt as if there was a nail at the center of her wrist (exactly at the location of Pericardium 7 for anyone familiar with acupuncture point location). The pain radiated into her palm and up to the elbow along the pericardium channel. She was also a little nervous because she had never had acupuncture before. I was really concerned about treating this patient too aggressively.
