We had wonderful responses to our laser case study contest, and I’m pleased to announce the winners. There were lots of great entries, and deciding on the winners wasn’t easy. But Kimberly made me buy her lunch, we talked it over, (OK, even argued a bit) and came up with three truly outstanding cases.
Here they are:
Third Place: The Scar that Wouldn’t Heal by Martha Hall, L.Ac.
Second Place: She Walked without her Walking Sticks by Debra M. Ashcraft, MD
First Place: I Gave Her My Laser…You Would Have Too! by Jackie Victor, BSc, DNM, R.Ac., N.D.
We’ll post all three winning case studies over the next three weeks. For today, here’s Martha Hall’s excellent entry. Enjoy!
The Scar That Wouldn’t Heal, By Martha Hall, L.Ac.
Introduction
I am an Acupuncturist in San Juan Capistrano, CA and had a 32 year old male patient that was having numbness and tingling in his left forearm for the last 3 months. By the time he came to see me, along with the tingling, he was now having heavy achy pain when he played guitar (which is what he did for a living) and lifted anything on his left side. He had a 3-inch scar that went across the pericardium meridian, proximal to PC 4 and distal to PC3. He played football in college and broke his arm some 10 years ago.
Methodology
I treated him with Acupuncture at LI11, LI10, LI5, PC3, PC 4, PC6, LI4, SJ10, and Moxa around the scar, and he was getting some 80% relief but not quite 100% relief. Normally, my success rate is 95% by the second visit so I had to think deeper and figure out what I was missing, when all of a sudden I couldn’t help but dwell on his scar.
I recall a seminar that I just went to a week prior where the Lecturer said, scars can stop healing in a lot of cases, and to not over look them. She suggested using cold laser therapy and said how it works amazingly well on her patients. I also recall taking a seminar years ago on scar therapy as well where the Dr. said she always looked at the patient’s scar. So that is when I went to my office drawer and I pulled out my red laser and started doing laser therapy for the first time. I used the red laser on the scar for a total of 10 minutes and then finished the session. When I use the laser I don’t keep it fixed; I move slowly up and below the scar.
Results
He returned the following week and said the pain had diminished and the tingling had stopped. I couldn’t (but yet could) believe how much difference the laser therapy had worked. I continued doing laser on him every time he came in for the next 4 treatments along with acupuncture and moxa, and I also gave him wheat germ oil, from Standard Process, to put on his scar daily till the bottle of 90 capsules were gone. He is now pain free and I have suggested Acupuncture every few months, unless the pain returns, then he is to come back sooner.
Analysis
Since that first patient I do red laser on all my patients with scars and know the outcome will be that much better. I felt foolish for not using laser with my past patients but feel good knowing I will with use it for my future patients. My patients are excited to know I use laser Therapy and I explain to them that it promotes healing in many conditions because it penetrates the skin, increases the ATP and activates enzymes in the targeted cells, especially cells that have scar tissue.
Conclusion
Adding laser to my practice I feel puts me above others who are not using it. The body is amazing and will heal properly when properly treated. It is about knowing what to use and when to use it. For those Health Care Practitioners who are still not sure if they should use laser they must know it cannot hurt and it can only help.
Chinese Medicine is the oldest practice of medicine in the world but we must in the “New Millennium” use it with new advancements of non-invasive treatments. If practitioners would only use it for scar therapy they would be that much ahead of others not using it at all.
Once you get the hang of scar therapy you can advance from there to other treatments. There are seminars you can take or even read research such as mine and go from there.
Use it on yourself if you are having pain and see how you feel with it.
10 years down the road you will be that much more knowledgeable!
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