[Acu Note] Case of Acute Ankle Pain (Pediatric Acupuncture)

​The patient was 9 years old girl. She had been to my clinic for other health issues, but one day she came with her right ankle pain. She hurt her right ankle a few days ago, but she didn’t know how it happened. The inside of her right ankle hurt when she walked or just stood.
 
Laying her down on her back, I checked her ankle. There was heat around ankle bone. When the ankle was twisted inward and outward, and was flexed downward and upward, she felt pain inside of her ankle.
 
After general pediatric acupuncture treatment, I checked her right ankle for painful points with pressure. There were 5 painful points and I tried to relieve the pain, but a few points remained painful. Then when she stood up, her ankle still hurt even though it was a little better.
 
When she came to my clinic 2 days after the last treatment, her ankle still hurt. She went to see a doctor and took X-rays, but there was nothing wrong.
 
When I checked her ankle for painful points with pressure, there were no painful points around the ankle bone but 2 painful points on the ankle bone. After general pediatric acupuncture treatment, I gave a little strong vibration with a tool called Dispersion needle to the painful points on the ankle bone, and then asked her to stand up. She said her ankle didn’t hurt. She went home without an ankle support brace she had been wearing when she had come.
 
When she came back 4 days later, she didn’t feel any pain in her ankle even if I pressed around her ankle and there was no heat around the ankle.
 
This was a case that a tiny hairline crack on her ankle bone was suspected, which didn’t show up on X-rays, but Dispersion needle was as effective for this kind of cases as I had experienced before.