Experience with auriculo therapy

Author

Shri Kiran Phalke

Introduction

I have been working on the auricle for quite sometime. I have some very useful tips about learning and practicing auricular therapy. I will first give examples of how different patients reacted to the treatment. There is a general fear about ear therapy that it may cause infection, which is difficult to cure. In my practice of acupuncture, I have never seen anybody contracting infection. If proper aseptic condition is observed there is no need to worry. It is sufficient to clean the ear surface with alcohol. It is also important to put a cotton swab inside the external auditory meatus. Having taken these steps, we can now turn our attention to main work.

Principle of the therapy

The auricle is a platform for the diagnosis and treatment of different conditions. It experimentally found that whenever there is a pathological change in any part of the body, the reflex of the same appears on the auricle. If this reflex is treated with acupuncture, the pathological change starts healing. It is therefore very important to find this reflex precisely.

Methods of active point detection

There are mainly two methods of accurate active point detection

A metallic probe called "Jimmy" is pressed against the part of the auricle until the patient feels the pain that is different from the pain due to excessive pressure. The point is then marked with iodine.
An electronic instrument called the point detector is used to detect the active point. Both the above methods must be used carefully if good results are to be obtained.

Generally it is observed that the auricle responds much better and faster to some of the body areas than others. Pain in the calf muscle may be cured faster than headache. Internal organs also respond much faster than muscle system. I will now give some examples to highlight this.

Patient: Mrs. XYZ Complaint: This woman aged 75 years suddenly felt sick with a pain in the urinary track. She complained of acute pain in the track and external genital organ. Point detector machine was used and related points were found. These points were at exact location of the reflex areas. Silver needles were inserted in the points after cleaning the ear surface. Within ten minutes of application of the needles, the pain in the affected area stopped completely. Treatment was repeated five times more and there was complete recovery from whatever had happened. It was not even necessary to go in to the details of her disease. Such a good result is not possible with any other pathy in such a short time.

Patient: Mrs. ABC Complaint: This patient was almost unconscious probably because of extreme pain in the abdomen as told by her relatives. It was not possible to interview the patient. I therefore used electronic point detector and found that the corresponding area of the appendix was active. I inserted a silver needle there as the condition was of extreme pain. The patient opened her eyes and told me the sight of pain. After about half an hour the pain subsided completely and the next day she was perfectly in good condition. This shows the effectiveness of Auriculo therapy for internal organ problems.

Patient: Mr. AXN Complaint: This patient had hyperacidity. He complained of nausea and lack of sleep. He had numbness in the tip of fingers. Lack of hunger. He was very anxious about the recovery. Treatment: With a point detector device, I checked the auricle. It reveled the presence of a very sharp active point in the inferior concha. This point was equivalent of the cardiac plexus. Stimulation to this point with Acu Pulsar made some movement in the epigastric region and there was a good feeling of being healed. Along with acupuncture, the patient was suggested proper diet like Cabbage Juice, raw Potato Juice etc.
Result. The patient felt comfortable after the third treatment. After the fifth treatment, he developed confidence in the therapy. On the tenth day, he was declared cured.

Patient: Mr. CDE Age: 80 years Problem: Sudden loss of vision, insomnia palpitation Treatment: The patient was given bodyacupuncture treatment, which did not produce any result. Hence, it was decided to search active points on the auricle. It was found that the point Hypothalamus was very active. A prick of needle in this point produced immediate effect on him, as he felt sleepy in the treatment chair itself. Point GB20 was then manipulated to get a dechi sensation towards the affected eye. Next day he recovered his eyesight to some extent. This patient is being further treated.

Thus, I have observed that in the following conditions the auricle therapy works much better and faster.

Urticaria.
Abdominal pain due to mild mechanical problem.
Muscle spasms of acute nature.
Acute Urinary track infection and pain.
Feeling of heat in the body or burning sensation in any part of the body due to causes of extrinsic nature, or in case of Chicken pox. 5) Acute Myocardial infarction.( The pain and the disturbance is relieved within three to five minutes)
Constipation. (Auricular acupuncture improves the effect of channel acupuncture and moxibustion.)
Swelling of ankle joint in rheumatoid arthritis.
Retention of urine.

Explanation

Auricle is a small extension of the body which is of immense use, not only for collecting sound waves, but for acupuncture treatment too. Small branches of important nerves innervate the auricle. In TCM, it is said that all the yang channels meet in the auricle. What is the meaning and use of this? We can see that Gall Bladder channel encircles the auricle as if protecting the auricle. Urinary bladder is the mother of gallbladder. Philosophically the GB channel takes care of the mother in the old ages; the age of UB and K channels is sixty-five to seventy-seven years. Naturally the son takes care of the UB and K Channels.It is therefore important to keep the GB channel very healthy in this age.
The diseases of the yang organs heal faster than yin organs by using auricular needling. Yang organs are hollow organs and therefore healing is accessed very fluently from inner and outer side of the organs. On the other hand, Yin organs are solid in nature; therefore, access to healing is slightly difficult. Hence, it takes more time to heal the yin organs. The diseases of the yang organs heal faster by using ear needling, and therefore we can say that there must be ample supply of yang energy in the auricle. This is a probable explanation for "all yang channels meet in the auricle". It is also interesting to note that only yang channels come very close to the auricle. GB, T.W. and S.I.

Patient: Mrs. Chandran
Age: 44 years
Problem: