acupuncture?

[grizwilson]

Not sure where to post this so here I go.  In January i fell and severely sprained sprained my ankle, with partial torn ligaments.  Have had air cast, to lots of ice and therapy.  Darn thing continues to swell and hurt.  The Doctors seem frustrated.  The current thought is that some nerves have been damaged, as the ligaments seem healed, but ankle is still less than 50% of the other in strength. The latest advice is to try Acupuncture.  I would like everyone's experience and suggestions for someone in SWMO to give it a try.     Thanks

g

[Al Agnew]

I've never had acupuncture, but my wife (who is a registered nurse though hasn't practiced in many years) is a firm believer in it.  She first started getting it for an auto-immune disease that she had, and it was terrific for that.  She now gets it for arthritic pain in her shoulder and back pain.  It's not a "cure" for those types of pains, but gives her a considerable amount of relief.  She gets it from a practitioner in St. Louis, so I can't help you on who to go to.

Gotta say, however, that bad ankle sprains take a LONG time to heal when you're older.  I sprained my ankle badly playing basketball last November.  I started walking on it as soon as I could, and after about a month I even tried playing ball again, but it was very weak and often painful for several months, and even now, more than 10 months later, is not 100%.  It still flares up sometimes.  It's most likely to give me trouble if I sit on my ankle for a bit and it stays flexed sideways for more than a few seconds.  The swelling has never completely disappeared.

[fishinwrench]

I did it back in the '90's for a bad case of tendonitis (fisherman's elbow) and I can't say that it did any good.  The tendonitis healed on its own after about 7-8 months of suffering through it.  

For those that claim it "healed them" I'd wager that it's all in their head.   Ailments like that have a way of healing themselves after time, and if someone gets "treated" in some way then they seem to like to praise the "treatment" they did, rather than accept the fact that the ailment would have gone away in the same amount of time if they had done no treatments of any kind.   

[lee G.]

I always thought is was a pain relief thing, instead of curing the problem.

[fishinwrench]

19 minutes ago, lee G. said:

I always thought is was a pain relief thing, instead of curing the problem.

Yeah, like smacking your toe with a hammer in order to stop a headache. 😋

[lee G.]

I dont think it's that bad, lol.

 

[lee G.]

Hey, I just broke 400 posts, only took me 7 years!

[grizwilson]

20 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

I've never had acupuncture, but my wife (who is a registered nurse though hasn't practiced in many years) is a firm believer in it.  She first started getting it for an auto-immune disease that she had, and it was terrific for that.  She now gets it for arthritic pain in her shoulder and back pain.  It's not a "cure" for those types of pains, but gives her a considerable amount of relief.  She gets it from a practitioner in St. Louis, so I can't help you on who to go to.

Gotta say, however, that bad ankle sprains take a LONG time to heal when you're older.  I sprained my ankle badly playing basketball last November.  I started walking on it as soon as I could, and after about a month I even tried playing ball again, but it was very weak and often painful for several months, and even now, more than 10 months later, is not 100%.  It still flares up sometimes.  It's most likely to give me trouble if I sit on my ankle for a bit and it stays flexed sideways for more than a few seconds.  The swelling has never completely disappeared.

Thanks Al, yes at 59 the tape and go not as easy as when 20. From what I am told I should have went with rest and ice immediately rather than lace my boot as tight as I could and work another 10 hrs.   I was rather taken back when the surgeon suggested acupuncture. He seemed to think I had damaged some nerves it might relieve pain so I can at least sleep without the opioids they make me feel weird (I am weird anyway) so guess weirder? Going to give it a try, somehow.

g