Acupuncture as an alternative adjunctive modality for treatment of post traumatic stiffness

ABSTRACT

A 35 years old housewife, married and has three children, presented to the Out-patient Clinic of the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Department of Ain Shams University Hospitals with facial pain and inability to open her mouth. Her past history revealed that she was hit on the left part of her face by a sliding door of a microbus 2 months prior to presentation. This resulted in fracture of her left mandible. On examination the patient's height was 165 cm and weighed 55 Kg/ms [she lost about 7 Kg/month since the accident, as she was unable to chew]. The left part of the face was swollen. Infection of both mouth corners were observed. Palpation revealed, severe tenderness over the temporomandibular joint and two other points shown on Fig [1]. Bad odor came from her mouth, many dyspeptic ulcers were seen, the exact number couldn't be detected as she was unable to open her mouth properly. The distance between the upper incisor and the lower incisor was 0.5 cm. The x-ray revealed a fracture of the left mandible fixed with a plate and screw