05/04/2025
One of the most extraordinary experiences I’ve had during my practice is something I’d like to share here:
A woman around 50 years old, in severe hip pain, walked into my clinic with a cane. She said she had suffered a serious trauma to her upper thigh some time ago and was eventually diagnosed with avascular necrosis of the femoral head. The orthopedic specialist had scheduled the earliest possible surgery in two months and prescribed her 800 mg ibuprofen, two tablets every four hours.
Five days after taking the medication, she came to me and said that not only had the ibuprofen been ineffective in relieving the pain, but it had also badly irritated her stomach. She knew she was a candidate for hip replacement surgery, but asked how she was supposed to survive the next two months with this unbearable pain. Painkillers weren't helping. The pain had significantly increased her blood pressure, which had never been an issue for her before—it had now reached 180/100. She said the side effects of the medication had caused stomach pain and loss of appetite. She’d had to leave her job, couldn’t sit or walk properly, had to constantly change positions in bed, and her sleep was totally disrupted. She was slowly losing herself to a life of misery. 😖She asked me to help her get through these two months until surgery.
I reviewed her MRI and test results, did the necessary examinations, and honestly told her I hadn’t had a similar case before and couldn’t guarantee acupuncture would help, but I would do my absolute best. I told her she would need to come in twice a week.
She started the treatments. I spent a lot of time with her during each session, using all the techniques I could. At first, she couldn’t stay in one position because of the pain and kept moving, which made treatment more difficult. After five sessions, she said she hadn’t felt any difference. But starting from the sixth session, she gradually began reporting a reduction in the intensity and frequency of the pain. Slowly, her daily use of painkillers decreased. Over two months—16 sessions—I saw the improvement little by little on her face. By the tenth session, she had stopped using her cane and was trying to walk upright.
Then something happened in the final session that I’ll never forget: I was speaking with the staff and watching the street through the glass door, waiting for her, when suddenly I saw her get out of a Jeep and run toward the clinic! I was stunned. As soon as she opened the door, I said, “What are you doing? Your hip joint is necrotic—don’t hurt yourself before surgery!” She shouted, “I came to tell you I have no pain at all. I haven’t taken any ibuprofen. I just came from my orthopedic appointment. They did another X-ray, compared it to the previous one, and the doctor was shocked. He asked, ‘Has the ibuprofen reduced the inflammation this much?’ I said, ‘No—acupuncture saved me.’”
She shared all of this with joy, and I literally got chills. I didn’t know what to say.
But one thing became absolutely clear to me: medicine must be broader than what we think it is. A holistic view is always the best way to help patients.✅
