Day 143; Piriformis help.

Thanks, Benjamin, for your note. It meant a lot to me.

Two things come to my mind that could help. One I learned from a Korean doctor who was one of my acupuncture teachers. It could work the first time, but may take three, and if it doesn’t work by then, it probably isn’t the treatment. I’m assuming you had your acupuncture in Korea..

You lie on your side, painful side up for the first treatment. The practitioner locates Gall Bladder 30 — they will know the point. The GB channel runs along the outside of the leg, so the practitioner inserts needles into GB31, 34, 39, and 41. GB 30 is the one that uses a long needle, and is the last needle to place because it involves moving it up and down, but not removing it as it needs to stay in connection.

This is a deep point so it takes a long needle to affect. In a normal person I use a 5 inch needle that I insert 3–4 inches deep, slowly. It’s inserted slowly because you need the help of the patient to locate when the Qi connects to the needle, though a good practitioner can feel when they connect. The Qi ‘grabs’ the needle. Once that is felt, the practitioner slowly moves the needle up and down, (but it is not removed) — maybe up and down within the same two inch space. That is a repetitive action until the patient feels Qi run down his leg, the other needles will be there to help pull it downward. Once that happens, Qi is released from the area and the needles are pulled. Maybe takes about five minutes to do.

I’ve had people only need the one treatment, but if more are needed a couple of days in between the treatments are needed. It can take 2–3 days for a treatment to take hold. Treatment #2 is done on the opposite side, but same insertions and delivery. If a third is needed, go back to the painful side. If it doesn’t work, it probably won’t. I assume someone showed you how to stretch that muscle out. Yes, sitting all day is going to be an issue so you need to take breaks to bust up the pattern with stretches, and/or walking.

The second thing I would recommend is to find a practitioner who uses cold laser therapies. I’m not talking about the useless penlight size lasers as they just don’t deliver to something that deep. Mine is a medical grade Class 3b that can penetrate to the organs. It’s called a Luminex that I purchased from Medical Laser Systems in the USA, FDA approved.

They are safe and I use mine on me often. BUT, beware of someone who says they have a super laser because that means they have altered the original laser and that WILL make it unsafe. Also, don’t go higher than a class 3b as higher ones move into breaking down tissues, or inks, like in tatoos or spider vein removal. Apply the beam to the affected area and you can keep it there for 1 or 2 minutes. Be sure to not let it shine in your eyes, or off a mirror as the beam can bounced off it. I will assume that whomever has one is trained to use it, properly. ALWAYS, check out credentials and many people in South Korea speak English, find one who does so you can communicate.

My last thought is to invest in a home PEMF equipment (Pulsed ElectroMagnetic Field) as they can work with pain, too, among other things.

I hope this helps, Benjamin. Please let me know.