Over the past week the number of twinges I usually feel in my knee have greatly reduced. While I am still wearing my supporting brace at the gym, I am not suffering any pain or swelling following my workout like I have done in the past.
I am still following Steve’s advice and only wearing heels for a short period of time, on special occasions, but I am happy that if I were to wear heels, providing they are not skyscrapers, I should be able to wear them for a couple of hours without hobbling.
I arrived at the Newcastle Sports Injury Clinic for my third acupuncture session knowing that I was more than half way through the treatment plan that Steve had recommended for me. I am much more confident with the treatment now and having noticed some of the benefits, I look forward to my sessions.
Steve was welcoming as always and did the now familiar checks on my medical notes, there have been no changes again this week so we were able to get straight on with the treatment.
This week the main focus was again on my knee, with just the one needle in my arm. Steve is still hoping to be able to improve my grip in my left hand, I am yet to see any difference in this area following the acupuncture treatments so far. However, as the grip issue is a side effect from a mild stroke I suffered a few years back and mostly doesn’t affect my day to day life, I am not overly worried that the acupuncture seems to be taking its time in showing any effects.
This week in addition to the usual needles surrounding my knee, Steve placed 2 needles in the lower part of my knee cap (shown with red tips in this photo), these did sting as they were gently tapped into position but once in place didn’t cause any pain.
Steve is very informative and took his time explaining acupuncture and how it works, he showed me some diagrams of the channels used in acupuncture and pointed out the acupuncture points he was using in my treatment.
After around 10 minutes of relaxing I started to notice a twitch in my inner thigh, in other places rather than a tingle or a twitch, I felt a bubbling sensation, something similar to when you blow down a straw into a glass of water. Nothing to worry about explained Steve, just signs that the needles were positioned correctly and that flow of Qi was active.
Once again, I found the acupuncture to be a relaxing treatment and was disappointed when the time arrived to remove the needles.
I had no aches and pains over the next few days like I had in the previous sessions, I could get on with my day to day activities without any pain or swelling, which is a great feeling.
When I first met with Steve for my initial consultation, he suggested around 3-4 treatments to begin with, this was my 3rd and he recommended that I book my next appointment for 2 weeks’ time, this will give him a good idea on how well the treatment is working and will allow him to decide on how best to continue my treatment.
It may be that I need to book in with one of the clinics Physiotherapists or Podiatrists to get some advice on my walking and running styles to prevent any further injury once my acupuncture treatment programme has come to an end.
Acupuncture Patient – Newcastle Sports Injury Clinic
