The history of this unique therapy is long and rich. The origins of auriculotherapy can be traced back over 2500 years ago to the ancient Chinese systems of acupuncture . The concept of stimulating specific points of the ear for specific therapeutic benefits has been written about all through the ages. Hippocrates and Galen discussed using rings and various mechanical aids in the auricle for treatment of some human conditions. There are clinical reports from the 1500 and 1700’s in which cauterization of tiny points on the ear was described as successful for alleviating sciatica.
It is precisely this remedy that propelled auriculotherapy into modern times. An orthopaedic surgeon from the French city of Lyon, Dr. Paul Nogier, in the 1950’s observed that many of his Algerian patients had small burn marks on their auricles. After noticing this odd practice repeatedly, he began to question some of these people. Evidently, this was a common and effective treatment in Northern Africa for relieving sciatic nerve pain. Algeria at that time was a protectorate of France, so Dr. Nogier traveled across the Mediterranean to see first hand what this practice of cauterizing the ear was all about.
Fascinated by what he observed, Dr. Nogier began to study all he could find about ear acupuncture. The Chinese record of ear points was in chaos. He discovered that acupuncture as well as other traditional Chinese healing arts had been all but forgotten for the previuos 150 years. After the Communist revolution in 1949, Mao Tse Tung had called for a renewal of the Ancient Chinese healing arts. Dr. Nogier, as a result of his reading, clinical experience and observations, developed a pattern for relating to ear points based upon the visual superimposition of an inverted fetus over the auricle. When his method of organizing the many and seemingly unrelated ear points into a logical sequence was translated into Chinese, the whole thing suddenly made sense. This therapy could now be readily taught and understood by the lay healers of rural China.
My personal experience with auriculotherapy began several years ago. At the time, I was suffering from a painful tennis elbow. Unlike most of my patients who, when I tell them that their pain is called tennis elbow, mostly respond quite emphatically that they have never played tennis, I played it several times a week. I tried several conventional approaches. All natural, of course, trigger point therapy, ice, stretching, massage, more ice and even tried one of those useless elbow bands. I say “useless” because you cannot play tennis with one unless it is so tight it becomes a virtual tourniquet.
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