Nourish Your Joints with Acupuncture and Yao Tong Pian

This morning I walked on the Silver Comet Trail.  The cool crisp fall morning made me reminisce about an October of many years back when I was training to walk my first half marathon on Thanksgiving Day.  Well, my half marathon career ended with just two half marathons to my credit. One fine spring morning I twisted my knee while jogging on the trail, and what seemed like a minor injury became a prolonged healing process.  I already had a chronic back problem and the injury to my knee combined with the stress of unexpected life events became so debilitating that at one point I could not even walk a tenth of a mile! (Who says there is not a mind body connection, huh?) My walking days were over, or so it seemed…

I began a regimen of acupuncture treatments, chiropractic adjustments, and nutritional supplementation. In the beginning it was helpful, even necessary, to take a bovine glandular extract for quicker relief, but being a (Hindu) vegetarian those were hard pills to swallow! I wanted to transition to herbs and began to take Plum Flower’s Yao Tong Pian. I took this formula for a few months and the improvement was gradual but sustained. It benefited both my back and knees, and seemed to even help with foot pain (yes I am one of those people who from time to time hurt in just about every joint of their bodies!) Every few months I now take Yao Tong Pian for a few weeks for continued joint support and recommend it to anyone with weakness or chronic joint pain especially of the back and knees.

My days of walking 25 miles a week or participating in half marathons may be over, but I am grateful just to be back on the trail and for the three miles I walked this morning. It has been a long road to recovery… and I think I am ready for another bottle of Yao Tong Pian and some needles in my knees!

Manju Ladha, L.Ac.