At the time of injury, I was working in my own production eyeglass lab making approximately 50 pairs of glasses per day. One day, I broke my two fingers and my elbow on the left side.

Over a period of time, I was feeling intense pain between my elbow and shoulder, which eventually took over my whole arm. The pain prevented me from lifting my arm more than 3 inches away from my thigh. When I went to the Chiropractor, he set me up with exercises. The goal was to raise my hand & arm up to touch the back of my head. Besides the fact I lost mobility of my arm, there was 24 hours per day constant pain. The pain was sharp biting whenever I moved my arm, and a dull numbing pain when I kept my arm still. The pain kept me awake at night.

I had to go to work every day. And I did! But my 9-hour days turned into 15-hour days. The pain slowed me down tremendously. I used to work all day, praying for the day to end so I could just lie down “to sleep away the pain.” As soon as I laid down, the realization set in that I was no better off resting. The pain never went away.

Needless to say, I was losing it! The chiropractor recommended I see an orthopedic surgeon which I did. He confirmed with x-rays that my broken elbow and broken fingers healed fine. He seemed very perplexed as to what the problem was. He suggested physical therapy three times per week. He gave me a list of places that included one right in my building. I was desperate, in intense pain and practically suicidal. I was a pressure cooker waiting to go off.

The thought of therapy with the pain I was in terrorized me. If I could just get rid of the pain I could start exercising to bring the mobility back to my arm. I returned to work after my first orthopedic visit. I turned on the radio, and the talk radio program was all about acupuncture that day. The people were giving testimonials about how acupuncture helped them. I was excited to hear some extremely successful stories.

I heard about Shoshanna, and I made an appointment then I called to cancel. Coincidentally, it was Shoshanna who picked up the phone that evening. She proceeded to relax & calm me with the feeling of hope, an emotion I had not felt since the beginning of my ordeal, six months prior. I felt Shoshanna had an enormous amount of compassion. Needless to say, I rescheduled.

When I arrived for my first visit, I explained everything to Shoshanna and her assistant. They asked questions and listened intently. I felt like I was a speeding train about to crash into a mountain during those few minutes. They were relaxed, emitting warmth, calmness and relaxation. During the interview, I explained every single detail hoping that these skilled people would give me some relief. At one point, they excused themselves to check in on other patients. As they approached the door, Shoshanna stopped and looked at me and said, “I’m sure we are going to be able to relieve you of this pain. – gentle, friendly and with a bit of shyness that made me feel important. I was ready to be healed and somehow I felt it was going to happen here. When they returned, they were ready to get started. Shoshanna knew exactly where to place the needles with a natural instinct. During that first session, the needles were placed swiftly, painlessly and strategically, all 18 of them. I knew nothing about what was happening but I knew the exact location of the needles would somehow be responsible for the outcome of the session.

I believe now that my ability to focus all of my energy on healing myself was almost as important. Shoshanna instructed me on proper breathing techniques. She told me to concentrate my energy and thoughts on healing the area of pain which I started doing as she was talking. Then came needle insertion time. I know this is hard to deal with for many people I have talked with. I have seen people wince their eyes and clench their fists when I explain the idea of placing needles into the body. The simple fact is that I did not feel any pain. She had ten needles in me in seconds, and I thought she was still contemplating where to place the first one.

I got relief that first visit. Afterwards, I walked to the car and actually felt the pain lifting from my body, little bits at a time. I still couldn’t move my arm due to the six months of immobility, BUT there was no pain! I could lift my arm with the assistance of my other arm, and with no agony.

A miracle—I wanted to run back in, to scream to my friends in excitement. How could this happen? I just couldn’t understand. I had my first good night’s sleep in a very long time.

I started exercising the next day. The pain was virtually gone. My accident was back in February of 1996, and I went to see Shoshanna in July, 1996. I went through a series of treatments for almost six months. For almost 2 1/2 years, I have been living pain free.

DB