Paraplegia

The patient was referred to our office for spondylosis. George arrived in a wheelchair, with his wife’s help. George suffered from low back pain, neck pain, and peripheral neuropathy. His main concern was the low back pain. He had had low back pain for many years due to many injuries while in the military service. The low back pain was constantly bothering him. However, he took Ibuprofen, 800 mg, only when the pain became unbearable.
 
After all the routines, i.e., checking the vital signs, feeling the pulses, checking the tongue, etc., we were ready for him to get on the treatment table to work on his low back pain. In the treatment room, George had a very difficult time getting on the table because he could not move his legs. He had to use his hands to raise the legs and position them in place on the table. It turned out he had lost his feelings on both legs below the knees. He said because he lost feelings below the knees, he could not move his toes, feet, or legs. He had been paralyzed for 15 years after numerous falls during military service.
 
I asked if he wanted to get up and walk again. He said, “Sure, if that’s possible!” In addition to working on his low back pain, I used a few acupuncture points and Qigong to get his feeling back from below the knees. After one treatment, his low back pain scale dropped from 5 to 4, and he said he could feel a lot of tingling in his legs and feet.  After the second session, George came back and said the low back pain kept getting better and he could feel everything below his knees now. While sitting in the wheelchair, he showed me how he could move his knees, feet, and toes. Also, he was able to move his legs a little while standing.
 
George’s conditions kept improving. Five sessions later, George came in for another session of acupuncture. As usual, his wife came with him, but this time she did not push his wheelchair. She was walking behind him as he walked in, with a walker. He put the wheelchair away because he said, “I don’t need it anymore.” He was able to stand up and walk around with the help of a walker. He got on the treatment table without help. George said, in order to regain the strength, he walked, with the help of the walker, between the bedroom, living room, and bathroom at home several times a day. 
 
After 7 sessions of acupuncture, George and his wife went on a vacation. During that family gathering vacation, George had a lot of fun swimming. After 6 weeks of vacation, George came back, with a walker. You could see that he was pretty flexible and walked easily and quickly. However, he said he started to lose feeling in the left arm and in the legs (from the knees to the ankles). His feet were swollen and felt pain. The swelling had been treated when he first started acupuncture. Although he was on the pills for the edema, his feet were still swollen. The swelling had gone down after 5 treatments earlier. With another session of acupuncture, the feelings of the arm and the legs came back, and the edema improved.
 
When George came for the 10th session, he got off the van and went to the trunk to retrieve his walker. He set the walker aside and walked to the driver’s side to help his wife, Shery, getting off. Shery hurt her right foot and was using a walker to walk. Acupuncture was performed for George’s low back pain and the paralysis, and Shery’s foot problem. Sheryl said George wanted to drive and asked if it was okay for him to drive. I told her to let George drive a little in the neighborhood when there was not much traffic, to begin with, and not to push it. After all, it had been 15 years since George’s paralysis stopped him from driving.
 
Two weeks later, George came in with a walking stick and Shery came along without any help. George said he did not feel any low back pain now except if he walked for a long-distance or engaged in strenuous activities. He did not need any help to walk at home. The only time he used a stick was when he went out of the house. When they left that day, Sheryl walked out first and got in the car, on the passenger’s side, while George followed quickly but toward the driver's side of the car.
 
For his 12th session of acupuncture, George drove to the office without Shery’s company and he walked into the office without any help. One more session later, I told him his treatment was complete since his low back pain and paralysis were resolved and he could walk and drive without any assistance. George worried about losing his mobility again and asked if he needed to come back for routine sessions to prevent it from happening. I told him the only time he needed to come was if he ever felt numbness or lost feeling in the lower extremities. 
 
A year later, he drove back and said he felt numbness in his legs. Acupuncture was performed and the feeling of numbness went away.