Back/Sciatica pain: different case studies
Case 1: simple, easy / tolerable chronic with acute aggravation
Patient: Male, age 68, in relatively good health, only taking blood pressure medications
Chief complaint: Chronic sciatica pain on right side, radiating down right leg, aggravated by playing golf. Entire back extremely stiff upon palpation.
Modalities used: Bowen Therapy, 3 areas targeted with additional hand and foot acupuncture points stimulated
Progress: 2nd treatment 3 days later: reported absolutely no change. The treatment was repeated with minor changes. Afterwards felt more pain for 2 days after treatment. The next day most of the pain was gone.
Total treatments to resolve chief complaint: 2
Comments: He did come back 3 months later as his left side this time began to tighten up after a month long trip, as a preventative measure.
Recommendations:
Yes, the treatments were very fast and effective, but he will continue to have problems as only the worst spasms were alleviated, stopping the pain. But he has a chronically tense and tight upper and lower back which needs to unwind. But he was only concerned with intense pain and he probably has become accustomed to stiffness and soreness to a point of unawareness. His high blood pressure would be greatly helped also. His tense personality as a result and a cause of his tight musculature will contribute to high blood pressure as more pressure is required to push blood throught constricted blood vessels. Of course there were other reasons, all of which he did not want to explore.
Back plus neck,knee,hip,ankle pain
Case 2: simple, easy
Patient: Male, age 35, in good health, an avid golfer
Chief complaint: Neck and right front hip in more pain than rest of the areas, came in with a pronounced limp.
Modalities used: Bowen Therapy only, 5 areas targeted
Progress: 2nd treatment 4 days later: noticeably limping less. Neck still very tight. Only slight improvement. He mentioned that felt very achy throughout body for 2 days after the treatment. 10 days later he came in for the 3rd treatment. This time he felt a lot better and there was no longer any limping or pain. He had even played golf with no problem.
Even though he had no more immediate pain, 2 more treatments helped to consolidate the gains.
Total treatments to resolve chief complaint: 5
Comments: 1 year later ran into him at a local store and he was happy to say he had no more pain since the treatments.
Part of his success in maintaining this is his good general health, a strong constitution and a positive attitude. Also, it was helpful that he followed the recommendation to come for at least 2 more treatments after the pain is completely gone in order to stabilize the results.
Back/Sciatica pain: severe chronic
Case 3: more complicating factors, not as easy
Patient: Female, age 43, only medication were sleeping pills due to pain at night interrupting her sleep. Also prone to headaches
Chief complaint: 2 1/2 years of intense sciatica back pain. 2 years ago had lumbar surgery but did not alleviate the pain starting from L-5 down to right gluteal and down to right leg. Her lower leg and toes were constantly numb with daily leg cramps. She came in hunched over, difficulty walking and unable to drive herself to this appointment.
Modalities used: Microcurrent Therapy with probes, no needles. Alternated with Bowen Therapy
Progress: 1st treatment: on a scale of 0 to 10, 10 being the worst, she was an 8. Gallbladder, San Jiao, Stomach, Spleen, Kidney and Large Intestine channels opened first. Then local pain areas were targeted with Microcurrent Therapy.
2nd treatment 3 days later: due to the severity of pain. She was now a 5-6 on the pain scale. The leg cramps were less and she slept better. Microcurrent Therapy continued, targeting more areas.
3rd treatment 6 days later: she maintained the gain, still a 5 on the pain scale, despite doing too much by her own admission. She mentioned her stress laden life, as she was the main cook and caretaker of her 4 children, with 1 child beset by seizure complications. Her husband did not help much in that department. At this point, the treatment modality switched to Bowen Therapy to allow deep relaxation, with the intention to allow her to access deeper emotional as well as physical healing within herself.
4th treatment 2 weeks later: she was a definite 3 on the pain scale. The right leg was still numb and cramping. The Bowen therapy was employed again with additional acupoints chosen accordingly.
5th treatment 1 week later: she maintained the 3 on the pain scale, but her sleep was good. Leg cramps down to 1-2 a week and not her initial daily occurrence. But a big change was feeling happier, something she had forgotten in the last couple of years.
6th treatment 2 weeks later: the turning point happpened after the last treatment. Her back was still quite tense and stiff, but no more pain. At that point the treatment focused on her sudden dizziness and propensity to headaches.
7th-10th treatments, 2 weeks apart: Dizziness resolved but her right leg remained numb. The pain did not return. She was satisfied and opted to not return for further improvement.
Total treatments to resolve chief complaint: 10
Comments: Compared to her debilitating pain, she was quite happy with her results. After the 5th treatment turning point, she even began to be interested in nutrition and even got her husband to help more in the home.
Recommendations:
Since her right leg still remained numb, we would advise her to continue her treatments as the results were quite dramatic for such intense, long standing pain. Also, her emotional and stress levels could always use the relaxation and processing that the treatments offered her. Even though the Microcurrent therapy played a key role in breaking up the stagnation of the painful areas, it was not until she began to process her emotional turmoil that the Bowen Therapy helped her with. Again, her innate intelligence was activated and the insights helped her to seek practical solutions, rather than to feel helpless and overwhelmed.