Bell's Palsy is called "Zhong Feng" in China. This translates to "Wind Attack." The following protocol represents the notes taken while working with Dr. Wang at the Yunnan Province Hospital of TCM in Kunming China.

Traditionally, Bell's Palsy is, in TCM terms, wind-cold-damp in the facial channels. There's a lot of Bell's palsy in Kunming. Nobody knows why, and to my knowledge, no research has even been proposed to determine why. Be that as it may, the one good thing about all the Bell's Palsy in Kunming is that they have been forced to develop some very effective treatment strategies in order to treat this local phenomenon.

With little exception, every patient recieves the following body points:

The following points are local to the pathology of wind-damp-cold in the facial channels:

The following points have both functional and local purposes:

The needles are left in while the patient rests for 25 minutes.

The side of the face that is used varies from patient to patient. The more acute the condition, the more likely that some of the points will be bilateral, or even ipsilateral.

The logic here is that within hours of the first attack, during the initial acute phase, the opposite of the face is used for needling. During the chronic stage, only the effected side of the face is used. For patients who haven't had the condition too long, some of the points are bilateral. As to how long is "not very long" it is difficult to say, since that decision seems to be based on parameters known only to Dr. Wang. Welcome to Chinese Medicine.

After the patient's needles have been removed, cupping is used on Du 14 or GB 20 to remove wind and activate blood locally.

For some of the severe cases, local injections of vitamin B-12 is used or Dang Gui solution are used. These injections take place at the following sites: Large Intestine 11, San Jiao 17, Gall Bladder 20.

This protocol is used five times per week. These are serious cases that we're seeing, and the treatments are within the price range of most of those effected by this Bell's Palsy.

Pictured, is Dr. Wang with his trade mark "moxa stick" (not really a moxa stick) in his mouth during a treatment of Bell's Palsy. The young man pictured receiving a treatment came in to the clinic unable to shut his right eye due to the Bell's Palsy. He'd been treated by a doctor in the outskirts of Kunming for the past three months, however there had been no improvement in his condition. After just two weeks, dramatic improvements had already been seen. He could now close his eye fifty percent before his daily treatment and one hundred percent during. Everyday he was looking better...