Case Studies
Preconception, Pregnancy Care, Labor Preparation and Post-Partum Recovery
Jordana L. 33 years old
I met Jordana a year after she had given birth to her first child. This young woman presented with symptoms of pain, exhaustion and pelvic health issues. She turned out to be the dream patient because of her great compliance and understanding of the therapy process. In her video she explains in her own words the importance of preconception, pregnancy and post-partum therapy to achieve optimum recovery and have a fantastic experience.
Fertility
Tara R. 38 years old
Tara experienced numerous health issues during and after her first pregnancy. Although, she was planning to have one more child, she had difficulty getting pregnant. At a fertility clinic, Tara was told that she may not be able to conceive naturally. However, instead of proceeding immediately with IVF, she gave herself a timeline of 6 months.
She worked closely with a naturopatic doctor and at Beyond physio, she was treated with moxibustion, TCM acupuncture and pelvic floor physiotherapy. Also, she was given moxa to use daily at home. Only a few months later Tara was able to conceive naturally. She gave a home birth to a healthy baby girl. Most likely her preconception treatments contributed for an ultimate experience and controlled uncomplicated labor.
“Thank you so much! Your role was so integral in this process, I’d love to help anyone I can by sharing my experience. It was a dream pregnancy after thinking it wouldn’t be possible and then being able to have my homebirth after spending too much time at doctors and hospitals since Everly’s birth. Can’t wait to see you.”
She gave a home birth to a healthy baby girl. Here are her own words:
Interstitial Cystitis/Chronic Prostatitis
Carin K. 34 year old (at the time of initial assessment)
When I first met Carin, he presented with chronic pelvic and abdominal pain, urgency and frequency of urination. These symptoms started when he was a teenager. At present his pain was consistent. He rated it as: 6/10 in good days and 8-9/10 in bad days. He was also anxious and depressed. Initially, I advised him to attend psychotherapy to optimize the outcome from my treatments. His reply was that he tried it in the past for several years but it didn’t really work for him. He was convinced that if he could get rid of his pain, he wouldn’t be anxious and depressed. I started treating him with Pelvic floor physiotherapy, dry needling, scalp and body acupuncture. He was also given a home exercise program and was filling out a bladder and pain diary.
During the first few visits, he had severe trigger points and myofascial restrictions in his pelvic floor muscles. We could spend 10-15 min over a single point and he would report decrease in pain of 1 point only. After a few visits, I offered to dry needle directly his pelvic floor muscles. I explained the procedure and warned him that it might be painful. Carin’s answer was: “Do whatever you want, just help me with the pain”.
“After the last treatment I was sitting at home and I felt that something was different. I was wondering what it was. Suddenly my brain clicked: Wow! I am pain free! This might be the feeling when one is not experiencing any pain.”
At the following visit this young man shared something that almost made me cry. In his own words:
In my experience, when working with chronic pain patients, the most difficult is to gain their trust. Usually, by the time they are seen by a pelvic health physiotherapist, they have already been to an average of 3 medical doctors and a number of allied healthcare professionals. In holistic approach to health is very important to establish a trusted relationship between patient and practitioner. That day, I knew that I had gained the trust of Carin.
and from now on, he will be only improving. It took a few months to permanently resolve the pain. His frequency of urination normalized but the urgency was still there. The second major achievement happened when Carin started meditating daily. His urgency was 90-95% resolved. 5 years later Carin has maintained the treatment outcomes. I still see him every 3-6 months for tune ups. His quality of life has improved significantly.
Pelvic Pain/Coccydynia
In 2010 Alex had a fall while snowboarding. He landed on rocks directly on his tailbone and fractured it. Ever since his accident he was in pain and was unable to sit pain free for longer than 5 min. This affected not only his social life, but also his studies. At that time Alex was a university student. He came to see me in 2018 after he had exhausted his treatment options.
I proposed to treat him with pelvic floor physio, body and scalp acupuncture and moxibustion. He was comfortable only with Scalp Acupuncture and Moxibustion. Also, a home exercise program was prescribed, additionally he was also doing yoga in a class setting.
Alex attended therapy once a week for 6 months.
His pain gradually subsided and was eliminated. He was able to travel to Japan and sit prolonged hours in the aircraft pain free. He graduated not only from his bachelor program but also attended and graduated from a year long specialized program.
Undiagnosed Chronic Leg Pain
Carolyn 62 year old
Since her childhood Carolyn has suffered on and off from unexplained leg pain. No objective imaging could determine the cause of her pain. At her Initial Assessment she presented with typical meridian pain distribution. She was treated with scalp and body acupuncture, auricular therapy and Heat Sensitive Moxibustion. Home exercise program and diet modification were prescribed. She responded much quicker than expected to her treatment program. At present, she is pain free and she continues to follow her diet and exercise program.
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)
Edward D. 46 year old
Although to this date in medical science there is no cure or a way to reverse a SCI, Ed is an example how one can optimize his function and physical fitness to the maximum. At age of 46, he has a remarkable upper body strength, flexibility of a 20 year old, great cardio endurance and lung capacity. Ed came to see me initially for a pelvic health consultation but we ended up working also on optimizing his function and his sense of wellbeing. In TCM moxibustion therapy and scalp acupuncture play a key role in the achievement of maximum function with incomplete SCI-s. Grace of the combination of daily workouts and these TCM modalities, Ed was able to participate twice in Toronto marathon and walk 5 km.
