Acupuncture #2 and Chiro

Last night Bug had his second acupuncture appointment. He was much more relaxed this week - although still over thinking, as Anne said. It took a bit to get him to settle on the mat and I did treat him regularly for being a calm boy.

Anne inserted 10 needles along his back. Bug allowed her to go much further down his back, actually onto his hip. Last week he was more nervous about her touching him there (because he was in pain, I think).

Anne was REALLY pleased with how much better his iliopsoas felt after being adjusted by Cheryl. Bug was much more receptive to Anne massaging his iliopsoas and bicipital tendons. Anne showed me some additional stretches I can do at home for his iliopsoas and how to massage the gallbladder meridian that is in the rear leg which releases a lot of tension in the back.

We talked a bit about foods that Bug should avoid given the stagnant liver qi. Anne said beef is considered a hot food and we should avoid that. Bug is allergic to beef so that is not a problem. She also recommended avoiding dairy as it is a damp food. String cheese is probably our number 1 treat so...we'll have to change that. :-( It is such an easy treat. Boo.

I mentioned that while I have used acupuncture myself for chronic headaches I don't really know a lot about Traditional Chinese Medicine and I was interested in learning a bit more so I would understand better what we are doing with Bug. I had looked at Four Paws, Five Directions (a book about TCM and animals) and considered purchasing it, but decided to wait and ask Anne what she thought. Apparently "five directions" refers to a specific school of thought and is not traditional TCM, nor what Anne does herself. Anne recommended The Web That Has No Weaver by Ted Kaptchuk if I want to get a good understanding of TCM. She said it does not address animals specifically, but it is the most readable and thorough book for a layperson that wants to understand TCM.

Anne commented that most biciptal tendon injuries are a result of a back injury. I said, "So you're saying the bicipital tendon issue arose because of the iliopsoas injury?" Anne said, "Absolutely. Bug put more stress on his front trying to alleviate pain in his back." Well, duh. Connect the dots - it makes perfect sense I just didn't see it and no one had s-p-e-l-l-e-d it out for me. I was thinking of these two injuries as separate not connected. Now it makes more sense to me that Anne is spending a lot of time with Bug's iliopsoas!

I had a conflict for next week so we scheduled for two weeks. We will see how Bug does. I told Anne I could ask John to bring Bug but I truly don't know if Bug will settle for him. So we think it is better to wait, at least this time.

Then we went to see Cheryl. Bug held his pelvis but Cheryl felt he was very tight. She thinks it might be too much to do acupuncture and a chiropractic adjustment on the same day. Fortunately Bug is all set for now and shouldn't need to see Cheryl again for a bit unless he slips on ice. So, in the future we will try to schedule on separate days.

Ike also saw Cheryl. (He actually wagged at her and no barking! That is a first [the wagging], I am so proud of him; especially given he hates the activator noise.) He slipped last Tuesday getting into the car. He had the most human expression on his face when it happened - completely confused. He knocked his sacrum out which is probably the most common thing to lose when you slip on ice.

Due to my cold I did not hold my Phase One adjustment - although, thankfully, I did hold my pelvis. Cheryl did a neat acupressure thing where she put pressure on points on my chest. The left side hurt, but the right side killed. She said that is because colds enter on the left and exit on the right, so the fact that the right side hurt more is a good sign; it means the cold is leaving me.

There was an agility class going on where we met Cheryl and Bug was whining. I think he really missed class this week. He was saying, "I want to play, mum!"