Channel problems/sports injuries

March 22, 2001

Dear Stephen and Alon and group:

I have followed your discussion on channel problems versus internal problems

for musculoskeletal complaints. I have two young athletes (age 16 and 18),

both swimmers, one is also a pitcher, and they both have shoulder " pain "

around LI 15 and extra point Jianneiling. Neither one has any other pathology

that I can find. They both have perfectly clean pink tongues, nice strong

even pulses, no complaints. Their shoulder pain sometimes includes clicking,

fatigue, achiness, etc. Would either of you comment on this kind of problem

and how you would treat it externally or internally?

Julie

March 22, 2001

In a message dated 3/22/01 12:46:21 PM Pacific Standard Time,

stephen writes:

<< A few ideas come to mind, assuming you have tried treating the channels

with

acupuncture, moxa, tui na, or other traditional approaches without the

anticipated success. One is to determine how quickly or whether the

problems resolve on their own with a week or two of rest, or if it continues

regardless. If it resolves with rest then how they warm up and warm down

should be assessed as part of the diagnostic process. >>

Stephen, they are brother and sister, by the way, so diet may play a part.

They cannot do a week or two of rest, they are active athletes, pitching

and/or swimming every day. The problems do resolve with rest (the female

swimmer skipped practice one day, and pain improved). So I did refer them to

their school trainer for help with the warmups and exercises. My acupuncture

and moxa have helped the sister a lot, the brother less so, and he has only

come twice. I was just wondering about the internal aspect of the problem,

and it seems your answer is the possibility of food allergies. Thank you for

your ideas.

Julie

March 22, 2001

In a message dated 3/22/01 2:05:21 PM Pacific Standard Time, heiko

writes:

<<

I made up a cocktail of commonly used external herbs from Benski , 5 qian to

1 lian each and put in a large glass jar with rice wine, soak for 6 weeks and

strain and give to athletes to rub in .

If you need more ideas let me know

>>

Heiko, thank you. Can you specify exactly what kind of rice wine?

Julie

March 22, 2001

From Julie:

Dear Stephen and Alon and group:

I have followed your discussion on channel problems versus internal problems

for musculoskeletal complaints. I have two young athletes (age 16 and 18),

both swimmers, one is also a pitcher, and they both have shoulder " pain "

around LI 15 and extra point Jianneiling. Neither one has any other

pathology

that I can find. They both have perfectly clean pink tongues, nice strong

even pulses, no complaints. Their shoulder pain sometimes includes clicking,

fatigue, achiness, etc. Would either of you comment on this kind of problem

and how you would treat it externally or internally?

Julie,

A few ideas come to mind, assuming you have tried treating the channels with

acupuncture, moxa, tui na, or other traditional approaches without the

anticipated success. One is to determine how quickly or whether the

problems resolve on their own with a week or two of rest, or if it continues

regardless. If it resolves with rest then how they warm up and warm down

should be assessed as part of the diagnostic process. Unless you are also

trained in exercise physiology you would probably want to have someone else

make that determination. Secondly, I would find out what normal teenage

foods (read -potentially horrific) they consume every day, like energy bars

made by Snickers, or quarts of dyed lime green energy drinks. It could even

be tomatoes or cheese on the daily pizza. If there are some specific items

that may be culprits then either refer them to someone you trust to assess

allergies or have them bring in samples of the foods. My suggestion is

either to do an elimination of these over-consumed items one at a time or if

you are feeling experimental, to have them hold the foods one at a time

while you feel their pulses. In some cases you will detect a change in the

pulses when the offending substance is either held or placed in their mouth.

The problem with sending them to an allergist is that they may come up with

a list of 10 offensive substances but would not be able to determine their

relationship to the shoulder pain. Another thing to check, which goes

outside the realm of historically proven TCM is if they have a mouth full of

amalgam or other metals, i.e. from bridges that are covered by porcelain.

Again, even if they do, determining whether these may be related to shoulder

pain, which I have seen to be the case more than once, is difficult. The

way I do it is to treat what I have found to be relevant dental acupoints

and see if treatment results improve. If they do improve when the dental

points are added, then you need to refer them to someone that can deal with

that problem (alternative dentistry). The points I find most relevant are

St6, Lu3, St44. However, if this helps, it will, in most cases, be

temporary and the dental problem will need to be addressed.

Stephen

Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare

practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing

in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services,

including board approved online continuing education.

March 22, 2001

Julie

When I was working in Sydney , Chinatown I saw a lot of martial artists/body

builders etc and workrd with a couple of external herb doctors.Because as

athaletes they are over using their bodies etc everything needs to be

strenghtened , eg blood, ligaments , bones ,tendons

etc.Everyone of the ext herb doctors had a secret formula , a combination of

herbs soaked in rice wine to be rubbed into the problem or training area.

When I worked in a herb shop dispensing herbs I had access to see all these

" secret " formula. The big secret is that there are no secrets , ..........

for bones use xu duan, gu sui bu etc, blood movers , mo yo , ru xiang, dang gui

wei,

ji xue teng, tian qi etc, and wind damp herbs etc like wei ling xian , sang zhi,

I made up a cocktail of commonly used external herbs from Benski , 5 qian to 1

lian each and put in a large glass jar with rice wine, soak for 6 weeks and

strain and give to athletes to rub in .

If you need more ideas let me know

Heiko

juliej8 wrote:

> Dear Stephen and Alon and group:

>

> I have followed your discussion on channel problems versus internal problems

> for musculoskeletal complaints. I have two young athletes (age 16 and 18),

> both swimmers, one is also a pitcher, and they both have shoulder " pain "

> around LI 15 and extra point Jianneiling. Neither one has any other pathology

> that I can find. They both have perfectly clean pink tongues, nice strong

> even pulses, no complaints. Their shoulder pain sometimes includes clicking,

> fatigue, achiness, etc. Would either of you comment on this kind of problem

> and how you would treat it externally or internally?

>

> Julie

>

> Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare

practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in

Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including

board approved online continuing education.

>

March 22, 2001

juliej8 [juliej8]

Thursday, March 22, 2001 2:01 PM

Re: Channel problems/sports injuries