Several clients and potential clients and followers have informed us that they have been trying to post comments on this blog numerous times but their comments have been diverted away from this blog to who knows WHERE???.. and the comments do not appear in our inbox here either. Also, when we type our blog address on the main browser a different blog shows up WHY??? We have  complained to google to correct this problem and to this day NO RESPONSE from google was received.

THE PERSISTENT LONG TERM HIP PAIN

Ms. V. has a history of hip pain for almost 10 years, progressively getting worse to the point of walking stooped forward and using a cane. Over the years she tried various treatments with minimal improvement. In June of 2013 the pain got worse, on the scale of zero to ten, her pain was 9. She was taking a lot of analgesics with NO results. Looking on line, she found our facility, She made an appointment here at CIR Physical Therapy in Caldwell N.J. and after a thorough evaluation, she was treated using an approached that was recently developed at our facility "The AG technique"named after the initials of the clinician who developed it. To her surprise, the pain got significantly better on the first treatment. Her walking improved dramatically and after 5 treatments her recovery has been remarkable. Now with improved posture and reduced pain she is ambulating intermittently gait free. (without the cane}.

TORTICOLLIS (CONGENITAL)

Congenital Torticollis (twisted neck) also known as wryneck.
Experts are not exactly sure as to the real cause of this condition, some say it is due to injury or wrong position of the baby while in the womb or during birth if the neck muscles are stretched or injured. It is usually noted in the first weeks after birth, the baby keeps the head tilted  to one side while the chin is turned to the other side. The treatment is necessary in order to prevent the baby's skull from growing unevenly, as well as to prevent facial and neck deformities.
At our facility, we have treated several cases of Congenital Torticollis (ranging from mild to moderate) with excellent results within 4 to 5 visits.  The treatments consists of Alternative therapy (needle-less acupuncture) and Manual Therapy which results in significant improvement only after the first visit.

The young child with excruciating pain in the thighs especially at night

Approximately three years ago, something very dramatic happened while I was treating one of my patients. My patient was a seven-year-old Asian girl. She was diagnosed with polyneuropathy and polyneuritis -- severe pain and weakness in the legs. The mother of the child reported that they went to several doctors but could find no answer. She was referred to my clinic for physical therapy with the hope of alleviating the pain. The mother said the child could not sleep at night because the pain was so excruciating. Since all of the doctors had no idea of what was causing the pain, I suggested to the mother that we try acupuncture. In my experience, finding the root problem of the disease is the best way to achieve wellness, so I questioned the mother about the beginning of her child’s illness. The child had had the flu, followed by pain in the legs. Instead of just treating the pain, I started to treat the underlying problem, in this case, related to the lungs, which in my opinion were compromised due to the flu and the related post-viral syndrome. To my surprise, and to everybody’s amazement, the child’s pain started to go away after the very first acupuncture treatment. She was able to sleep without pain for the first time in a year, and the pain subsided -- 100% gone.


I told the child that I would not repeat the acupuncture treatment next time unless she asked for it. The next Wednesday, I saw this child sitting next to her mother with a smile on her face; with a loud voice, the child said: “Please do it again!!” I asked what had happened, and the mother informed me that the night after the acupuncture treatment, her daughter had slept very well and did not scream that night -- apparently the child had been screaming and moaning every night because of the pain in her legs. I repeated the acupuncture treatment about four more times, and the pain and weakness disappeared. I discharged her shortly after.

The elderly lady with progressive weakness who stopped walking

In July 2009, an elderly lady came in, referred by a home-care nurse. The patient suffered from polyneuropathy, polymyalgia, fibromyalgia, numbness, and weakness of the legs. Again, no doctor had been able to decipher the reason for the lady’s pain, weakness, and numbness. Once again, we pursued the antecedents -- the flu, which the lady had seven months prior to her visit to me. During her first treatment, the patient needed assistance from three people to get her on the treatment table. Her legs collapsed before her first treatment; as a team, we had to lift her onto the table. After I treated her underlying lung issues, she seemed stronger and was able to stand up more readily. I predicted before the third treatment that I could get her to walk. Sure enough, shortly thereafter, the lady walked for the first time in several months with no assistance -- her daughter was in tears when this happened.

The doctor’s stubborn neck pain and the numbness of the left arm, which he had for over one and a half years prior to coming to our office

Dr. Donald Angeletti is a Physician whom I respect greatly. He is both an internist and an endocrinologist. About 4 years ago, I received a phone call from his office requesting to speak with me. He asked me a lot of questions about my experience regarding cervical radiculopathy, cervical pain, radiculitis, etc. After a long interview, he told me that he heard about me through some of his patients, and he also said that he was the one who had suffered chronic cervical pain and pain in the arm for approximately a year and a half. So he decided to come to our office. At first I was hesitant to mention acupuncture, but in a subtle way I said that if I were in that situation after such a long time in pain, I would definitely would start right away with acupuncture and physical therapy combined . I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to proceed right away. He received about 6 weeks of physical therapy and acupuncture combined 2 to 3 times per week. By the 4th week, the pain was almost completely gone; for the last remaining 2 weeks, we concentrated on strengthening, with only one acupuncture visit per week. Now 4 years later, he is still pain-free and no longer wears his cervical brace.

The sciatica and the frozen shoulder that led to the solution of a old and serious case of RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy)

My sweet friend Mrs. F is an elderly lady, but young at heart and mind. She has a great sense of humor and a real zest for life. I have known her for over five years, she has come to our facility many times in the course of these five years for several different problems( see her attached letter) . The first time was when she had sciatica. She was always very open to acupuncture from the beginning and the treatment for sciatica was successful in very a few visits. She was quite pleased with the results and the next time when she had a new problem she returned to our office. She returned for a frozen shoulder, which was also addressed and treated quickly. During this time Mrs. F reported this chronic “horrible thing in the left lower leg” she described to me as a extensive nerve damage that she had for over 30 years as a result of an accident that she sustained 35 years ago. The nerve pain was so severe in the lower left leg and she had bluish discoloration as well as coldness of the distal left lower extremity. She had seen several doctors and she was diagnosed with RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) since this injury was so long ago.


I did not expect to see any changes but during this time she seemed to be worse. Therefore, I felt very bad about this, and I told her that I was not sure if my treatments will work this time but I was willing to try. After about eight to ten sessions, Mrs. F reported some significant decrease in the pain that was so excruciating before and the color of the skin changed into a pinkish color and the leg was warmer to touch. After the treatments she was able to walk better and we were very happy she regained strength and mobility and now her leg has improved significantly there are still some discolorations from the old injury but nothing compared to what it was. Recently Mrs. F has returned to our office due to back pain at level ten, but after two sessions of combined acupuncture and physical therapy, the pain is now “92%” better, she says. “The pain is just about gone.”

( This is Letter that Mrs. F wrote after her treatments)

For me, acupuncture has opened up a whole new world of ways to relieve pain and alleviate stress. For some of my health conditions, I had sought traditional help through doctors, medicines, and chiropractic. None of the more traditional approaches actually helped me. Finally, on the recommendation of a friend, I found acupuncture and Amy Gonzalez. Amy is a master practitioner and continues to help me regularly.


Here is an overview of some of the conditions Amy has treated and cured for me:


Sciatica – I endured this condition for six months, using pain relievers and muscle relaxants; I then turned to a chiropractor. Several months of work brought very little improvement – in fact, things started to get worse. Then I went to the Center for Integrative Rehabilitation, where Amy used a series of treatments combining physical therapy and acupuncture to bring me back to a normal state of health.

“Frozen” shoulder, with no mobility in my right arm – A series of PT and acupuncture treatments resulted in restored mobility after six to eight treatments. Similar therapy also solved a 30-year-old problem that was the legacy of an injury to my lower left leg. When I went to a vascular specialist, he diagnosed possible reflex sympathetic dystrophy and said that nothing could be done to fix the problem. At CIR, Amy addressed the situation with combined PT and acupuncture. The pain has been completely gone for three years.

Currently, I am being treated for lumbar distress with sensory involvement; after three treatments, I am definitely better and am looking forward to complete freedom from the condition. I view all of these treatments and their dramatic results as amazing and highly instructive regarding the importance of seeking effective alternative therapies. Having found them, I am eternally grateful.


Nancy Friedlander

The high-school student with scoliosis who could no longer tolerate her pain

Jennifer was a high school student who came to me with the diagnosis of Scoliosis and with severe pain in the neck and mid and lower back. Her insurance company gave her two visits of physical therapy. Her father got new insurance that would cover her treatments. The two years of treatments consisted of acupuncture and physical therapy. She started acupuncture about two or three months after beginning physical therapy. I balanced her energies in the body which helped to correct her scoliosis. When she first came to our facility her scoliosis was at a 26 degree angle; she went to several doctors, who told her that the only solution to her problem was surgery. Since my own child had scoliosis I refused to live with the thought that he might have to have surgery of the spine so I did great research and I tried different techniques to correct this scoliosis. I found the solutions as to what acupuncture points worked best to correct the scoliosis. I was very pleased to correct my child’s scoliosis and that is why I was able to help this wonderful young lady. She was 100% compliant with my treatment and very consistent attending her visits, at the beginning I saw her three times per week. Later I saw her two times per week and after a while I saw her only once every two weeks for approximately a year +. Her pain was greatly improved at the beginning of the treatments (within the first 2 months ). She was able to go to her prom in a beautiful dress. She feels 100% better and came to give me a big hug and to tell me that she would miss me when she was at college!


This is the letter written by this young patient who was extremely grateful with the results of her treatment for scoliosis:

The sleep apnea that caused extreme exhaustion, fatigue, headaches, heaviness of the legs when walking

I’ve seen Ms. W on and off for the past three years. She endured cervical pain and wrist pain, among other ailments, but this time she returned to our facility because of repetitive injury – in this case, tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow in the right arm. During our treatments, she mentioned that she has been experiencing severe fatigue and that she wakes up several times in the middle of the night with a sensation of choking due to obstruction of the airway passages. She described congestion of the nose and throat upon waking up in the morning, with increased phlegm and the need to clear her nose and throat in the morning.


This sounded to me like a case of sleep apnea caused by obstruction of the airway passages, so she decided to receive acupuncture for this problem since this problem was causing great discomfort in her life. The treatment I selected was to eliminate the phlegm, open up the airway passages and tonify the affected channels, balance the body’s general constitution and calm the mind. During this treatment, Ms. W started to report improvement in her breathing, opening of the airway passages, and renewed energy. She also reported great improvement with her headaches. She did very well and she has made a few more appointments for follow-up.

The persistent and uncontrollable cough which occurred immediately after the loss of a loved one

Sometimes life bring us terribly sad moments that will have a tremendous impact on our physical and mental health, causing severe depression and in many cases causing diseases that can’t easily be explained, cured or treated with conventional western medicine. I can relate to this. I once had a very dear and very close family member who left this earth at such a young age, at the prime of her life. This experience changed me forever. Losing someone so dear to me has made me more sensitive and more aware of how the body can react to such loss.
This is the story of a very sweet elderly lady who was referred to me by one of my patients who also had a case of persistent cough for other reasons. This case was a serious case of uncontrollable cough which started shortly after the passing away of her beloved son. The day I saw this lady was a very busy day in the office. I was told that she was waiting to be seen in our private room. I heard a constant and persistent coughing episode which was even painful to watch. I asked her several questions as to how this started. I always try to explore deep into the root of the problem without being offensive or intrusive, so I hesitantly asked if there was a major trauma in her life prior to this happening. She broke down in tears and stated that this is something she cannot talk about. Her emotional pain was so visible that I promised her that I will not bring it up again . I proceeded to complete my evaluation and to treat her. I thank God for allowing some healing to happen at this moment because immediately after the last needle was placed, her coughing stopped and she rested comfortably for about 30 minutes. She returned one more time and received a bit more involved treatment and symptoms continued to get better. Today she walked into the office with a smile on her face and said she was feeling 80% better and that she feels “ so much peacefulness in her body…I can breathe better”. Later on, I found out that she resumed teaching voice lessons. I was very happy with this outcome!!

That mysterious dumb cat stole her heart!!! Then she gave the cat her home, but then this cat caused her terrible allergies. Now she can’t get rid of the cat because she loves him too much!!!!!

Today I saw a lady with a very bad case of nasal congestion which she has had for the past year .Worse in the winter and improved in the summer. She was seen by allergists and other physicians with no success. This problem started two winters ago. Her boyfriend moved in November with two cats and a dog. This was such a stressful situation for her. She found herself with a full house including her own three kids. Then sometime later, the boyfriend left, but he left behind one cat for this lady to take care of. Initially she disliked the cat, but later the beast grew on her, and she got very attached to the feline. But unfortunately, cat dander has caused her severe allergies. She tried everything but she cannot get rid of the allergies. Now she is ready to try alternative treatments as a last resort.


After seeing so many cases with allergies, I have come to the firm conclusion that somehow the body seems to react more to aggressors, in this case allergens, when the body is weak and depleted either by severe stress, and by some dramatic change in the lives of some individuals, such as in the case of this lady. She started manifesting allergy symptoms two winters ago, when there was so much commotion in her house. Every winter since then, even though the stressful situation was no longer present, some kind of physiological response or mechanism in the body remains, and the body remembers that stressful situation and responds to it.

In this case, which is obviously an allergic reaction, I did not treat the nasal congestion per se, but rather the deep root of the problem. I worked with treatments to reduce inflammation at the lung acupuncture meridian as well as strong relaxation points which helps the body heal from within and also some other acupuncture points to strengthen and tonify the body to help with the elimination of this allergy. I did not expect to see major results right away, since this is a two year + allergy history -- but to our surprise, she felt significantly better right away.

I like to explain very clearly to my patients regarding how I view the mechanism of allergies, because in order for healing and desensitization to happen, the patient needs to protect or guard him or herself against these aggressors during and throughout the acupuncture treatments until full desensitization occurs.

My advice to this lady was to keep her distance from the cat while getting her acupuncture treatments and this way to gradually desensitize herself from this cat. She was also advised to try to coordinate a nice vacation every November until her body frees itself totally from the memories of this stressful situation to eliminate this allergy once and for all. Another suggestion made was to receive a couple of acupuncture treatments just before next winter to reinforce our current treatments. I will continue to see her for few more sessions. I am very confident, based on today’s treatment, that she will eliminate this allergy completely. I saw her one more time recently and her allergic reaction have significantly improved.

The painful back and leg that they all thought could only be solved by back surgery

Five years ago, Chester, a gentleman from a town far away from here, came to our clinic with serious and severe back pain and leg pain. He had already seen several orthopedic doctors who advised him that the only solution to his problem was “back surgery,” but Chester refused to listen to this and looked for other alternatives. He spoke with one of his friends who was a former patient, and the friend recommended that he try acupuncture and physical therapy at our facility. When I first saw Chester, I was very concerned about his pain, since it was ten on the scale of ten. I was able to get him in a comfortable position for his treatments and he responded very well. Within approximately ten visits, his pain subsided and Chester returned to work pain free both in the back and in the leg. Shortly after this, I received a phone call from Chester asking me if he could bring some friends from his town to our facility and I said OK thinking it would be maybe two friends. I remember it was an evening in the summer, and I was treating some patients. I looked out the window and saw a line of maybe seven people and Chester all walking to our office for treatments. I was happy but overwhelmed.


Chester was pain free for five years. About a week ago, Chester called our office again. He needed to speak with me urgently; apparently his back and leg area were hurting again. He visited several doctors and once again he was told the only solution to his problem is back surgery. Chester was pain free for five years after the last treatment he received at our facility. He is a machinist and he works with heavy duty equipment I am very happy he was pain free all this time. But now we are talking about a new incident. So Chester arrives at our office with severe pain. He stated “my wife remind me that last time I had this pain five years ago you fixed it; that is why I am back again.” After a thorough assessment, I realized that this was a new problem, because five years ago it was the opposite leg that was involved. Chester was treated and felt better after only one treatment, which consisted of combined acupuncture and physical therapy.

Yesterday, I saw Chester again. He said his pain level was one or none. He went back to speak with his doctors regarding his full recovery, but apparently no one is acknowledging the fact that he is now pain free -- so I told him that I would include him in the list of successes. “You are my angel; you have saved my life,” Chester told me. “What will I do if you retire? It would probably be better for me to spend the money to fly down to South America to find you than to waste my time going around in circles here again.”

The uncontrollable nagging cough

This patient is a sweet lady with a 2 ½-month history of nagging, irritating, and persistent cough. She reported that the cough got worse at night and did not allow her to sleep, and she reported a tickling and itching sensation in the throat, along with post-nasal drip. Once the coughing episodes started, she couldn’t control it; the itchiness and ticklish feeling in the throat was continuous. She had tried western medicine with minimal improvement. This lady is very religious and was inspired to walk in to our center. After a nice chat with the staff she made an appointment for the next day, and I was glad that she came here. I have treated this kind of cough before, but it was not an easy case. Well, her first treatment was just to tonify her body ( I explained earlier that this means a general strengthening of the bodies energies), since she showed signs of deficiency in her constitution, not having restful nights of sleep in more than two months. She did fairly well. For the second treatment, she insisted on a more aggressive approach -- she seemed so eager to feel better. I took a chance and listened to my instincts.


After a very detailed treatment, she felt somewhat better, and the following treatment calmed the cough and left her feeling more rested. So I alternated with another very simple tonification treatment, and the following day she called our office and said this is the first time in almost 3 months that she had slept for eight hours with no cough. A few days later, she come for her follow-up treatment and stated that she slept the whole night with no cough and had a lot of dreams. She is very happy and has no more cough and minimal occasional scratchiness of the throat.

The painful swollen fractured ankle

Recently I told this story to a patient who has been receiving physical therapy for a very bad fracture in the ankle. He had plates and screws and a lot of swelling in the ankle. He had pain in the inside portion of the ankle, and the ankle shifted inwards in the standing position, making his pain worse. He was limping and walking with difficulty. Finally, just before the holidays, he said to me: “I’m ready; I can’t take this pain anymore.” He received two treatments right before the new year and felt significantly better. After volunteering to cook for his family New Year’s party , he overexerted himself and came back to me with pain again, although not as severe as before. We did three more treatments of acupuncture, and now his walking is much improved and his pain is almost gone. He was discharged from treatment with a perfect gate and no more limp. He is much happier and has taken on a new work assignment in another state.

The recurrent ankle sprain of the one who wants to play softball

I shared this occurrence with a couple of my patients who have the same things in common. The first patient is a 48-year-old male who originally injured his foot at the age of 13. He came to our facility with a severe ankle injury. During the initial evaluation, I noticed that his leg looked bluish; it was hypersensitive and very painful to touch, cold clammy and somewhat atrophied (losing muscle bulk). In my experience dealing with this kind of injury, especially after recurrent injuries of an extremity, I see signs of RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) which I spoke about before in the case of Mrs. F.. The patient was depressed and very demoralized due to this chronic painful ankle and foot, and unable to play his favorite game of softball. Usually it takes a while for this kind of injury to heal, since we are dealing with connective-tissue injury, which takes longer to heal than a common fracture. This patient seemed very eager to get better and he requested acupuncture. He received several sessions of acupuncture and started to feel significantly better by the 10th treatment. He is now 100% improved and playing softball every weekend with his buddies. He is finally cured after 35 years of recurrent injury to his ankle.

The painful injured foot and ankle of old injury of an ex -football player that led to chronic back pain

Other success stories relate to ankle sprains and chronic pain in the foot. I received a referral from a local orthopedic doctor to treat a patient with chronic back pain. During the initial evaluation, I noticed that the patient was limping on his right leg. I asked the patient what had happened to his foot; he said that when he was in college, he suffered a bad injury while playing football, and his foot had never been the same. He had a severe soft-tissue injury at the time that never fully healed. After I treated his back, he said that he felt better in the back -- yet he was still limping. I said that the reason why he had a chronic back problem was that his body and spine always shifted to the right when he walked, so if we didn’t fix the right foot and ankle, the chronic back problem would never be solved. He looked at me and said: “What do you mean? I’ve had this problem for so long, and it can’t be fixed.” I suggested acupuncture; he was reluctant, since it was new to him. Still, he was willing to try anything to help his chronic back pain. After 8 sessions the ankle and foot improved; the patient was no longer limping and his lower back pain was completely resolved. Without the treatment of his limp I knew that he would return to me in a few months with the same back problem.

The singer with vocal cord polyps with squeaking voice when singing

Today I received a referral from the speech pathologist at our Center. This is a case of a teacher and choral singer who was diagnosed with bilateral vocal cord polyps. Her main complaint was constant hoarse voice and inability to hit high notes when singing which she was always able to do in the past. In addition, she demonstrated severe dryness of the throat and squeaking voice when singing over an A or middle C , as well as tightness in the upper throat and difficulty sleeping at night. She had to chew gum and drink water constantly to keep her throat moist. Her first treatment of acupuncture to help restore the moisture in the throat and to decrease the inflammation due to overuse of the vocal cords. We were both happily surprised with the results. She noticed immediate restoration of moisture in the throat and less tightness. During her second treatment she told me that she felt moisture in her throat and didn’t feel the need to use the chewing gum or water. She also reported a significant improvement in the quality of her voice.

The overwhelmed tired mom with voice hoarseness

This more recent case involves a mother of 4 young children who brought her 3- year-old child for gait training due to toe walking. The child received Chinese Tuina and Japanese treatments to improve her muscular tightness. While the child was receiving her treatments (which corrected the problem of toe walking), The mother told me that she had suffered aphony for several months and was unable to speak loudly enough to call her kids. I suggested acupuncture for her condition, and she received about seven treatments. When she called our office recently to speak with me, I did not recognize her voice -- it was very clear and had no more raspy or hoarse quality to it. She was very happy with her outcome.


I recall treating another woman with loss of voice several years ago. Once again, this patient had long-term loss of voice. I did not expect to get any dramatic results due to the length of her condition, which was more than a year. I do recall that this was also a success story – she recovered her voice 100%. I personally feel that the main reason I became so familiar treating upper-respiratory cases, including allergies, nasal congestion, and voice problems is because I got the best practice with my own kids. When they got ill, I refused to bombard them with pharmaceuticals. Instead, I let their own bodies create more antibodies to fight disease. Every time they got a fever, I watched them very carefully. I made sure the fever never rose above 102 degrees F, and I lowered their body temperature by natural means -- sponge baths etc. I can do this carefully because of my training in nursing. I wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending to everyone to do this at home, because fevers can be unpredictably dangerous, and if not dealt with carefully, can affect the central nervous system. Because of my philosophy of treating disease naturally, I have read numerous books and I have developed numerous approaches to treat my kids. In the process, I became an expert in treating voice problems related to overuse excess problems and lingering pathogenic factors and cases of deficiencies post viral conditions.