Seeking a Cure for the Whole Body with Acupuncture: the Solution

In my last post, I mentioned Mary Rogel’s article in the Fall, 2010 Oriental Medicine Journal: “Building on Bedrock: Rethinking Orthopedics,” as well as the course she teaches on the subject.

         Mary is my acupuncturist, who is curing my painful hip and fall-asleep legs.  Every two weeks, she relaxes my ligaments with heat, needles, and other tools.  Once the ligaments are relaxed, she manipulates my joints to return the bones that meet in those joints to their proper positions and proper relationships with each other. 

          The human “bedrock” Mary teaches about is bone, in particular, the lumbar spine, sacrum, and pelvis:

         According to Mary, “Problems there translate upward and downward via the ligaments, tendons, fascia, and muscles to create…problems elsewhere in the body.  The sacroiliac joints are the place where the forces from the upper body and the forces from the lower body meet…Problems that begin at the sacroiliac joints affect every joint of the body…”

         Recall that in my last post, I told about a year I spent locking my right side and depending on my left side for most of my walking action.  This resulted in problems based in my “bedrock” joints, problems I only became aware of decades later when they started making my left hip hurt and my legs fall asleep. 

         It turns out, these problems are not confined to my hip and legs.  They extend into my knees and feet, into my shoulders, neck, and hands.  Thank goodness Mary is slowly coaxing my body back into balance.

         I highly recommend Mary’s article.  It is so clear, even a lay person can understand it.  I’m going to photocopy it for my internist and for my orthopedic surgeon.

         If you want a copy of Mary’s article for yourself, just go to the archives of the Oriental Medicine Journal and order the fall 2010 issue for $15.00.  I’ll be happy to hear your reaction to Mary’s article and to my latest two posts.



Seeking a Cure for the Whole Body with Acupuncture: the Problem

My acupuncturist, Mary Rogel, has slowly been curing my painful left hip and tingly, fall-asleep legs.  For an hour every two weeks, Mary needles and relaxes my ligaments so that she can manipulate and correct my joints.  During each of our hours together, Mary answers my questions and teaches me a little of her vast, deep understanding of body alignment.

         Last week, Mary gave me a copy of an article she published in the Fall, 2010 Oriental Medicine Journal.  The article is “Building on Bedrock: Rethinking Orthopedics.”  The article title is also the title of a course Mary teaches.  Recently, she gave the course at the International College of Classical Chinese Medicine in Phoenix.  She regularly teaches this course for acupuncture practitioners here in Chicago.

         First I want to tell you how I came to have a painful hip and tingly legs.  Long ago, when I was in my twenties, a dermatologist was treating me for a plantar wart on the sole of my foot.  Every other week for about a year, my right sole was so painful, I could only use the heel of my right foot to walk. 

         The result, unbeknownst to me, was that I was locking my right hip, knee, and ankle into rigid formation, with the result that my left hip, knee, and ankle were doing all the moving when I walked.  The further result was that my whole skeleton got twisted.  So even long after I was walking “normally” again, my left side was doing much more of the work of moving me around, and my right side was still holding pretty rigid. 

         I didn’t begin to know about this until decades later, when I started having hip pain and tingly legs.  After medical doctors were unable to help, my internist helped me find Mary Rogel.

         Now you’ve heard the lead-up story.  In my next post, I’ll tell you what Mary has taught me, and many others.  Stay tuned!