A Case Of Knee Joint Pain

Over the years it’s happened hundreds of times.

- Dr Joseph Kellerstein

Peering out into the reception area I’m met by the contorted expression of pain and effort laden grunt as a patient hobbles towards the examination room. The story line, of course, ends in a description of opposing forces offering a lasting physics lesson to the affected limb.

Homeopathy is the medicine of experience. In this situation the challenge is to translate the language of suffering into a well-proven remedy and so accelerate healing, often dramatically. My college class in first-aid prescribing flashes through memory promptly and once again I attempt to move through the laundry list of symptoms in the differential diagnosis of sprains and convict this person of being in need of Arnica Montana, Rhus Toxicodendron or Bryonia Alba, and if that doesn’t work, well then I will probably by default give Ruta Graveolens.

One evening I turned in desperation to reading old homeopathic journals after suffering the disappointment of realising I had seen all the scheduled episodes of CSI. Scrolling through International Hahnemannian Association issues for 1950, I came across the following:

CASE

A mail carrier of forty-five strained the inner side of the right knee by a twist of the foot outwards. He was compelled to rest it four weeks, making a partial recovery, after which he resumed work. Soon after that he had an attack of pneumonia and rested it some more. But, the lameness continued to interfere with his work, so he consulted an orthopaedician of repute. Split cartilage with fluid in the joint was the verdict of the X-ray. Operation was urged. As occasionally happens when a patient is confronted with what seems to him to an emergency, the homeopath was consulted.