ASMWS # 12 Knee Pain: The Medial Compartment (Acute and Chronic)

Course overview

Acute pain, inflammation, and swelling in the medial knee is often experienced after injury or trauma in sports. It may involve sprain of the medial collateral ligament (MCL) or tear to the medial meniscus. From a meridian (jing-luo) perspective, we usually think of the three leg yin meridians – the Spleen, the Kidney, and the Liver. However, medial knee pain should be understood in terms of western orthopedic diagnosis. Your treatment plan, rehabilitation and prognosis for the patient all arise from this assessment. But most importantly, prognosis – what you communicate to the patient – is what is unique to each diagnosis. Pain, inflammation, swelling, and stiffness of the medial knee, at the joint space, is also seen as a chronic condition. This pain is often due to medial compartment osteoarthritis. Sources suggest that over 30 percent of individuals between the ages of 60 and 90 are affected by this condition in one of the three compartments of the knee. That percentage will likely increase over the next decade, and therefore its inclusion in this webinar. Commonly diagnosed as a Bi syndrome, the three leg yin meridians encompass the medial joint space. Webinar instructor Whitfield Reaves will discuss a very useful acupuncture sports medicine technique of “threading the opening of a joint space” in the region of Liver 8.