“I could barely walk from my bed to the bathroom. The severe pain was taking over my life.”

Due to congenital scoliosis, in early March this year I started to experience extreme, debilitating pain in my left hip, across the top of my left leg, extending to and fully enveloping my left knee. I could barely walk from my bed to the bathroom. The severe pain was taking over my life.

After a week, I pleaded for an emergency visit with the scoliosis/spinal specialist in NYC who I've been seeing for 7 years. First, he said, I needed to get an updated MRI. I dragged myself into Manhattan for the MRI and, a week later, the appointment with the spinal specialist. He told me there was extensive inflammation in the area of my L1 / L2 discs. He prescribed narcotic pain medication and advised that I would need epidural injections for any only ongoing relief. I rejected both of those choices.

With no letup in the pain, 2 weeks later, for the first time, I visited a nearby chiropractor. He also read the MRI results, then prescribed a nerve medication and also stated I needed epidural injections. I filled the script for the nerve medication, but after a week of no relief, I stopped taking it.

Then I sought the advice of a well-respected physical therapist nearby who had assisted me when I was first diagnosed with scoliosis. He read the results of the MRI and said physical therapy alone wouldn't help me. He agreed that my best hope for pain relief was epidural injections. My Mom, who had terribly severe scoliosis, had multiple epidural injections over years, and none of them helped her, so this was not an attractive option to me.

After 5 weeks of crippling pain, having exhausted traditional medical alternatives, I decided to try acupuncture. Still barely able to walk, I found Acuworx located several blocks from my home. My entire experience with Acuworx has been outstandingly positive! After a few sessions with Panos Ioannou, the pain was greatly reduced. 10 sessions later, the pain is gone completely! I'm amazed and grateful to Panos to be totally pain-free and able to resume my full regular schedule. I'm advising family and friends with chronic or acute pain to be give acupuncture a chance to work for them, and offering my sincere appreciation and highest recommendation to Panos and the entire staff at Acuworx. - PD on Yelp