I have been using Acupuncture for a long while. It all started when I was ski jumping in Utah, practicing aerials on the trampoline to get my air-sense down before I took it up on the ramp. I changed my trick in mid-air, a big No-No, and blow out my knee on the landing. Spotters saw my knee distally dislocated about 2" then pop right back in. Luck y for me it did, since the femoral artery is right there.
In any case, the Team said.. Go see Tao Tan. I arrived. He was a short fat warm china man. He said, "You have cold body." You only take hot drinks while you recover." He popped the needles in, and I HATE needles, and I went to sleep for hours. He woke me up, rubbed his hands to build up Chi, and said, "I put energy into you brother" and he practically knocked me back when he laid his hands on my belly.
It took 4 visits and 3-4 weeks of heat/cold and light PT, and I was back on the ski ramp. My knee has been solid ever since.
So a few months later, I was on The Canyons SKi Patrol. We were doing pre-season maintenance and setup. Bumping around on an early season thin snow layer is hard on the joints. The rocks are just under the snow. THis is why the resort is not Open. Duh. Well the good thing is Ski Patrol and Maintenance crews get to ride the snowmobiles around, and we get to ski down if we want, the resort all to ourselves for a few weeks. The bad news is that it's rough on the body, and my wrists had had enough of it. I ended up with De Quervain's tenosynovitis in both wrists, so bad in fact that I could hardly drive a car, much less pick up a pint of beer! The docs were all agreed about cutting my arms open. They put me in a cast so I could travel back east for Thanksgiving, and then I was going under the knife. While back homein the Southeast, it dawned on me that I should go let Tao Tan have a look.
5 visits over a period of 3 weeks, and I was cured. I mean CURED. That was in 1998, and I STILL have practically no problems with my hands.. people who know me will agree I am very active, so there is no way I could still have that level of pain. Besides why would I lie? The whole point of writing this is to tell you stories of how you could get some relief for not much money or time with acupuncture.
I was poking around on the internet to find his contact info.. it seems he is also now teaching! I am glad of it. He would be a good teacher. read more