Last week, we had a tutoring session on the Triple Energizer. (If you missed it…click here and catch up!)
This week, I decided to put my research to the test on several patients. I was amazed with the breakthrough results received by a patient who has been stuck with high Triple Energizer graph results for a very long time.
Typically, I can get great results simply with balancing the graph, but this patient seemed to be an anomaly.
Case Study:
34-year-old female
- Chronic headaches (tension and migraine), neck pain and shoulder pain–since college; worse in the last two years
- Runs towards constipation and has a lot of bloating and gas
- Allergies and phlegm
- Irritable and stressed; type A personality
- Energy level: 5/10; runs hot, occasional night sweats
- Infertility issues
- Constipation
Let me show you a typical set of graphs for her.
Notice that the Triple Energizer is always high? Today, I’m not going to focus on how I treated her for each visit. I will say this much though; with every patient, the first thing I do is balance the graph. For her, I consistently focused my treatments on balancing the graph and then treating for musculoskeltal relief. Often, I added in extra strategies such as e-stim, cupping, auricular therapy, distal treatment, and massage. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get that Triple Energizer to budge.
Graph Analysis:
Last week, I graphed her and her graph looked like this.
I decided to try out some of the new information that I had learned about the Triple Energizer channel. That day, she had extreme bloating, gas, allergies, phlegm, constipation, and a lingering headache.
By looking at the graph, my first guess was that her shoulder tension and headache were worse on the right. Notice how all of the hand channels are a little higher on the right. Notice also, that the Bladder channel is worse on the right.
First, I balanced the graph according to the Yin/Yang chart.
Yin channels:
- Liver is low
- Kidney is borderline low
- Lung is lingering at high
Yang channels:
- Obvious tendinomuscular problems. I ignore those channels for now, because my plan is to do a tendinomuscular ashi treatment on her back when I turn her over.
What I did that was different:
Because the Triple Energizer channel is constantly out of balance for her, I palpate both the TE and the GB channels. She has bumps but no tenderness.
I added TE 6 and GB 34 to her treatment to dredge the channels. I also added in CV 17, ST 25 and CV 7. Each of these points are specific for the upper, middle and lower burner. I decided to add in all three because she was having problems with all three burners that day.
When she left, she didn’t feel much different, but was hopeful that her headache would dissipate.
Two days later, she returned for treatment and this is what her graph looked like!
You may look at this graph and think that it doesn’t look so good, because there are still imbalances.
To me, this patient has made a huge improvement, simply because of the major shift in the the TE channel. I was amazed and she was too.
It’s funny how your patients begin to narrow in on the problems in their own graphs. In the entire eight months that I had been treating her, I was not able to make an extreme shift in the TE channel. Occasionally, we could get it to turn green, but it was always borderline on high and needed to be treated anyway. As for her symptoms, she reported that she had been headache free for two days and that the extreme bloating and constipation was GONE.
I’m really excited to add this treatment strategy into my toolbox.
Consider the Shao/Yang treatment when you have problems with the Triple Energizer channel, and also when you find that there is excess in both the TE and GB channels.
You can train your eye to see these types of graph problems by looking at the Yin/Yang graph. Here is an example of what you might be looking for.
I’ll end today’s blog with a quote that is on the wall in my office:
The mediocre doctor believes that the study of the Primary Meridians is an easy thing;
the good doctor studies the Primary Meridians all of their lives.
~Ling Shu
By the way, I’ll be graphing her again in a couple of days and I’ll share her progress with you soon. Also, I was just reviewing some of the results from our 2012 Practitioner survey and I was surprised to read that 38% of my readers don’t own an AcuGraph yet! Really? Do what ever you can to invest in one now, before you get busy in a few months! You’ll be glad you did.
Until next time, make it a great day!
If you want to learn more about Graph Analysis, check them here.
Kimberly Thompson, L.Ac.
kimberly@miridiatech.com
Hi Kimberly, thanks for posting that info, very interesting and please keep doing it.
I often graph myself and SP High is one of my most common imbalances. Treating the recommended point (SP5) never did much until I stuck seeds on the point and onto ST36, SP6, SP9. I pressed them several times a day for 3 days and my SP meridian reading improved. But lately my graphs have shown SP high again. It’s summer here in China now and it’s very hot and humid so I think this may be a factor.
I had not used seeds on points before but I feel they are a very good treatment option, and possibly best when a point needs sedating. LU Low is another of my very common imbalances but putting seeds on LU9 has done little.
Perhaps when Lows do not improve (and Highs too) it’s time to consider herbs? What are your thoughts on this?
Matthew
Hello Matthew,
I interned at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego when I was a student. We often used seeds on acupuncture points for home care, and got excellent results. I always thought the reason behind this was because kids balanced out so easily that a seed was enough to do the trick. I use a lot of tacks in my clinic for a prolonged treatment after my patient leaves the office. I’ll have to revisit your theory of simply using seeds.
For deficient meridians, I like to add moxa for a stronger tonification treatment.
Recently I’ve been studying the relationship between the Lung and Spleen in the Tai Yin pairing. These two organs have a synergistic relationship. When the Spleen isn’t functioning correctly, then the Lung cannot work at full capacity either. Maybe you might try adding in SP 6 and ST 36 to your LU 9 treatment? I’ll be blogging about this relationship soon…
And yes, herbs are a great option for deficiency in a channel. I find that it is harder to build up someone with acupuncture needles who is extremely deficient than it is to move qi that is excess. The trick, as you know, is figuring out the cause of the deficiency so that you pick the correct formula.
Best regards~
Kimberly
Acugraph analysis not only detect the meridian imbalances,if we look deeper it tell us the various hidden problems also, example in my experience lot of TE and LI peaks show lot of bad bacterial pathology(Dysbiosis), so when we treating by that way (natural and Pharmaetical ways), and nutritional aspects also patient and graph shows improvement. As a clinical nutrional aspects we should dig deeper into that for future development.
Thank you
I love how the AcuGraph can analyze progress for the patient, whether you use needles or not. We have many practitioners who use the AcuGraph as a measuring device to show progress for multiple modalities of treatment–including chiropractic and nutritional therapies. There are a lot of ways to stimulate the flow of qi within the body, and nutritional components play a huge role in excesses and deficiencies.
Best regards~
Kimberly
This was great. I went back and read your other blogs about the TE and really appreciated your presentation. A question, when you are treating CV 17, ST 25 and CV 7 are you needling?
Please keep these coming I really can understand how you present and it makes it more useable and understandable.
What is the cost of the machine?
Hello Debra,
I’m glad that you enjoyed the blog. Yes, in reference to treating CV 17, ST 25 and CV 7–I was using needles.
The cost for the basic AcuGraph system is about $2000. Here is a link for more information. http://www.miridiatech.com/shop/
I would also be happy to talk to you about the AcuGraph and how it can be of help in your particular practice. I speak to practitioners around the world on a regular basis. My preference is using needles, because I am a Licensed Acupuncturist; but, many practitioners use other forms of treatment such as laser, electrical stimulation, heat, magnet therapy, pressure points, etc. and get great results. There are multiple ways to activate a channel.
Best regards~
Kimberly Thompson, L.Ac.
Acupuncture Research Analyst
208-846-8448
kimberly@miridiatech.com
Just to clarify, for SP High I didn’t just put seeds on those points, I first used the Stimplus (to stimulate the point plus find the best location for the seeds). The tip of the Stimplus leaves a nice little indentation on the skin for the seed.
Although I’m an acupuncturist, since I’ve had Acugraph I have not been needling as these days I’m especially interested in knowing if non-needle methods work as well (or better) than needles. Certainly they do on kids. My kids respond very well to laser in particular, on ear and body points. And the peizo is great for quickly treating the jing well points.
The non-needle methods I mostly use are laser, stimplus, peizo and seeds. Possibly seeds, peizo and stimplus (microcurrent) are better for Highs and laser (and moxa) for Lows.
Any thoughts on this?
Matthew
Hello Matthew,
I like your thoughts on non-needle acupuncture. This is an experiment that I would love to hear more about. I keep a stimplus, tacks and seeds in my purse and spontaneously treat friends and family as needed when I am not in my clinic, without needles. I also have a background in massage therapy and am really big on treating points with pressure.
From the perspective of my job here at Miridia Technology, I speak to practitioners, weekly, who do not use needles at all in their practice and get very good results. I think that acupuncture points are so powerful that you can use an array of modalities to make great changes in the body. TCM as a whole combines acupuncture needles, tui na, cupping and herbology. Some practitioners use only laser and seeds, along with nutritional supplements. Others use chiropractic and point stimulation on the body or the ears. I am a firm believer that ANY modality that is chosen can be better enhanced with acupuncture points. When the flow of energy is open and free, all other modalities will work better.
I don’t have specific experience regarding which non needle modalities are better for excesses or deficiencies in the channels. Keep us abreast your clinical experiences. I do know that treating the tonification and sedation points (or alternative points such as source points) enhances the treatment greater than using TCM points alone.
I appreciate your comments on the blog. Keep them coming. As a team of practitioners, we will pave the way for modern acupuncture diagnosis and treatment styles.
Best regards~
Kimberly