Hello, and welcome to another episode of the FAKTR podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Riddle. Welcome, and thanks for listening. In today's episode, we pick back up with our fascinating course on auriculotherapy with doctor Jeanette Kurban. In part 1 of this training, doctor Kurban introduced the 12 master points of auriculotherapy or acupuncture that is applied to specific points on the ear. It was incredible to hear about the various ways that these tiny points in the ear can create substantial changes in the body, impacting everything from hormones to anxiety, hypertension, and, of course, musculoskeletal pain. Today, we talk through a number of case studies and real world examples of how to apply auriculotherapy in your practice, including how to combine acupuncture as part of a multimodal treatment plan. We touch on the effects of bilateral versus unilateral treatment and the clinical decision making involved with determining where to start and how to introduce and explain this type of therapy to a patient.

So grab something to take notes with, and be sure to download this episode to listen more than once. Let's dive in.

Next, we have the sympathetic autonomic point, and it is the easiest way that I've ever found to locate this one is you go to the antihelix. You've got your helix. You go to the antihelix cross there, but it's on the helix or underneath the helix as the antihelix crus or cross connects. So if you're looking at the ear again, and I'll do this again, it's say it's a clock, and 12 o'clock is the allergy point, which we covered first, 1 o'clock, I would say that the sympathetic autonomic point is around 2 o'clock on that grid. It affects the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system and the balance between the two. It's used for spasms, pain, and smooth muscles. Many practitioners use it in their asthmatic patients. It does affect the equilibrium of the body.

That means equilibrium balance improves circulation via vasodilation. So it's used in any stress related health disorder and and, again, much, much more. There's too much to put on one slide of what sympathetic autonomic point can use, but distinct spasm, sympathetic autonomic. So a patient with lots of spasms, and you have to go under that little ridge there to find it. Not hard to do. Not hard to find. Okay. Now on the next one, the thalamus point, let's first find its location again.

It's gonna be hidden underneath the little ridge there. The easiest way for me to tell you to find this one is find the antitragus, and the antitragus is found there's a little it's almost like a little bulb that sticks up there on the ear rim, and you can see the little bulge there or little bump. It's underneath there. It's that's the antitrachis. It's right underneath there. For overexcitement, it would regulate schizophrenic patient or depressed patient, restores tranquility, reduces chronic pain. So, you wanna take it anytime you have a patient who's been hurting, I think, for more than 6 months is chronic, but you and I both know we see patients who've been hurting every day for 10 years come in, and this can actually reduce or or stop their chronic pain. I've actually seen it to where the patient just goes, the next morning, I woke up, and I'm not stiff anymore, and I don't hurt in the mornings anymore.

After one treatment, the next week actually, this was really recently. The lady comes in. She's referred to me by her internal medicine doctor who actually had come in and been introduced to acupuncture. Instead of his 3rd back surgery, he knew that would not be successful, and so he was trying anything. He had heard about acupuncture, heard about me, came in, and he's now sending me at least 1 to 2 new patients a week. I never asked him to, but he he had such great results. It kept him from a 3rd neurosurgery. It was just amazing for him, and so I was so happy for him.