Under the old ICD-9 diagnosis codes, there was actually a diagnosis for "adventures in medical mismanagement" to describe patients who had been run down the rabbit hole of poor case management and care. I encountered one of those patients in my office today.

He was a nice, polite older gentleman. He spoke softly but urgently. His eyes were wild with pain. He told me that he had constant, unrelenting pain in both feet – from the toes up into the shins. This began after a bunionectomy on the left 11 years ago. On follow-up with the surgeon for the pain, he was told there was nothing wrong with his foot – so the problem must now be coming from his back.

So he went to a back surgeon. He was told he had a bone spur and this was likely pushing on the nerve and causing pain. He had surgery but had no relief of foot pain, but now has post-surgical back pain. He tried physical therapy, but it was not beneficial. He moved closer to his daughter and sought out another back surgeon. He was then told he had stenosis and a cyst in his back that required another surgery. Still no relief of foot pain.

He was in tears when he presented to me. He said if he had a mallet he wouldn't mind just smashing his feet "so they had to look inside and figure out what was wrong." He was desperate. He just couldn't handle the burning pain. He asked if there was any way I could put some cold water on it to calm it down. A light went off in my head – I have heard that question before. I had a flashback to my teacher sharing a similar story and what he did.

A Simple Treatment

I helped the man back to my treatment room and up and back onto the table. I treated BaFeng on both feet and also GB40 – the cool water point. When I checked back in about 10 minutes later he asked me what I did – that was the first time he could rem-ember being able to lay without having to move and rub his feet because of the pain. I let him rest awhile longer then massaged along the old surgical scar on his foot with a 128cps fork. He was able to stand up and walk with much less pain. He was still sore, but could stand and walk.

The Water Point

Sometimes patients will tell you exactly what they need. You just need to have your ears tuned in and listen to what they say. He pretty much asked me to treat the water point – that is what he needed and that gave great relief. Maybe simple and straightforward to us, but for this gentleman the relief was miraculous. Did I do anything? Not really. I opened up the blockage and let the cooling flow. All I did was give him what he asked for. If anything, I am thankful my teacher told me his experience from so many years before so that I could draw on that understanding.

I wish you a happy and healthy Christmas season, and a blessed new year!

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Click here for more information about Douglas R. Briggs, DC, Dipl. Ac. (IAMA), DAAPM, EMT.

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