Needling on my Foot

Several weeks ago when I wrote about having needling/acupuncture on my foot, some of you wanted to know how it worked.

The chiropractor told me that some people benefit from it and some don’t but it would take at least a couple of weeks before we knew if it was working for me. I was going twice a week. I went twice the first week and didn’t see any changes. I was afraid that I had picked the wrong time to start this because this is the time of year I’m on my feet almost non-stop. Between working in the garden and canning, my feet get a lot of work.

I went back on Tuesday of the second week and by Wednesday morning, I could feel a noticeable difference. By Thursday, I was walking without needing to hobble, even though I had apparently developed a habit of hobbling and when I’m not paying attention, I still hobble. I think the hobbling is what is causing issues with my knee.

Before the needling, I hardly had any motion in my ankle. I couldn’t move my foot up towards my leg or left or right. Going up or down steps was almost impossible because of not being able to bend the foot at the ankle.

As of today, after 5 treatments, I have full motion of my foot/ankle with almost no pain. Not totally pain free but the pain is so very light that it doesn’t limit my movement at all.

I have more pain where my toes meet my foot, which is where there’s arthritis due to having worn heels for so many years. That’s where the pain originally started, then I think I limped enough that I caused the ankle pain and then the knee pain. Hopefully the needling is walking back the pain .. ankle has almost stopped hurting, then the toe/foot pain will disappear.

I can’t tell you how impressed I am since I had gone to two different podiatrists and a sports medicine doctor trying to get relief.

My insurance does cover this but I have a huge deductible and have not met the deductible. I think the first visit was about $90 and each subsequent visit is about $25.

I will probably go twice a week at least til the garden is finished and then drop back to once a week and maybe by the end of summer, go every other week.

The needles stay in my foot and knee for 15 minutes so I’m usually not there more than 20 minutes.

It’s a tiny little prick/sting when he inserts the needles. Some days I hardly feel it at all, some days it’s just a tiny little prick but only when he’s inserting the needles. 

I’m so thankful some of my knitting friends told me about this guy and the procedure. It has made such a difference in less than three weeks for me.