Tricks of the Trade

A 42-year-old male junior executive and self-proclaimed weekend athlete consulted my office complaining of severe disabling right wrist pain that he'd been suffering for over a year. He stated the pain was so intense that his three times a week tennis games had been put on hold, and he was forced to resign from his company's softball league.

Not only was this patient suffering from the effects of pain and dysfunction, he was obviously suffering from the effects of anxiety, fear and uncertainty of the future.

Two previous orthopedic surgeons had been unable to diagnose the cause of the problem, ruling out the usual: carpal tunnel syndrome, sprain, arthritis, or any other plausible explanation. Physical therapy had been to no avail; chiropractic care with the administration of acupuncture had also failed to provide any relief.

The patient sought the care of my office on the urging of his last chiropractor. "Maybe Amaro can pull a few tricks out of his hat," he told the patient. The patient was leery, frustrated and unenthusiastic, but still hoped for an answer.

General examination of the right wrist was unremarkable as were the x-rays from the orthopedist. Since the patient had already received eight acupuncture treatments from a Fellow of the International Academy of Clinical Acupuncture, and I was acquainted with the individual as being more than a competent practitioner, I advised the patient that anything I could do would probably not be any more productive than his earlier acupuncture experience.

I allowed my gaze to drop to the floor almost in shame of not being able to offer this desperate man a better answer. It was then I noticed a rather large irregular scar on the outside of his left ankle. On inquiry I learned that the scar was from an earlier skiing accident. He had fractured his ankle, requiring surgical intervention and pinning.

On further questioning it was learned that the skiing accident was in January, exactly two months prior to the onset of the right wrist pain which occurred suddenly and without incident.

One of the most significant cause-and-effect relationships in healing is "what affects the top affects the bottom and what affects the right side affects the left side and vice versa." It is also understood (or at least accepted), that "the right shoulder affects the left hip, the right elbow affects the left knee, and the right wrist affects the left ankle and vice versa."

With this in mind, I simply stimulated his scar tissue of the left ankle with a teishein (non-penetrating physical modality). I might add since this procedure is acupuncture in theory only, it is physiotherapy in application and thus permissible in any state or nation that permits physiotherapy.

On the second visit, the scar tissue of the left ankle was stimulated with a simple electronic stimulator. At this point the patient was thinking I was crazy, incompetent, or both, as I had yet to touch his right wrist.

On the third visit, the patient advised me that the pain was remarkable improved. Following two more visits of the same treatment to the left ankle, the patient stated that he had played a little tennis with his wife. Three weeks following the initial treatment the patient reported 100 percent improvement in pain and range of motion.

The patient, his family and virtually every friend and business associate he has ever had, now see me for routine chiropractic care. It has been almost nine months since I first saw him; the pain has never returned. My file cabinets are filled with similar case histories as are so many other doctors who have learned to simply "stimulate the scar tissue wherever you find it."

Recently, I received a letter from a prominent chiropractic physician who had attended a lecture in which I elaborated on the effects of stimulating scar tissue for various ailments. His letter reads:

Dear John:

Remember our conversation in Raleigh, North Carolina about treating scar tissue? I had told you of a patient who had residual left posterior scapular pain of five years duration who was resistant to any medical or chiropractic care. Having mentioned the patient had had breast reduction surgery 15 years prior, you advised me to find and treat the scar tissue around the breast. I though to myself, "This guy's crazy ... I told him it was the left posterior shoulder and he sends me to the front of the body!"

Being a perpetual student, I decided to give your suggestion a try. The scar tissue was stimulated with one of my assistant's in attendance and within two hours the patient reported a completed elimination of pain which has not returned. This was six months ago.

Case #2 involves a patient with chronically elevated liver enzymes. He tried abstinence from alcohol and a fat-free diet for three months only to have an increase in the level of the enzymes. His history revealed a procedure 14 years earlier (lymphangiogram) that required an incision on top of each foot (LIV 3 & 4). The scar tissue was treated twice and lab work repeated. All values came back within normal limits.

Case #3 had left lower quadrant pain for two weeks and was told by her gynecologist that she had adhesions in her scar from a hysterectomy 10 years ago. He told her surgery was her only hope for relief and that would be doubtful at best. You guessed it. Stimulation of the incision brought about a complete reduction in pain.

Thank you Dr. Amaro for broadening my horizons and enabling me to be of help to more of God's children through chiropractic care and acupuncture.

Want to turn some lives around? Then look for complete opposites in locating the possible cause of pain and always remember to stimulate scar tissue wherever you find it. Finger pressure is just O.K., Teishein is very good. Electronic stimulation is wonderful and He Ne laser or red light photodynamic therapy achieves results similar to the needle. All of the aforementioned are within scope of practice of those states and countries which allow physiotherapy. Let me hear of your successes!!!

John Amaro, D.C., FIACA, Dipl.Ac.
Carefree, Arizona