Confined to bed for weeks in excruciating pain, a local woman hails moving acupuncture as her miracle cure.In March, not long after a holiday to the Caribbean, 74-year-old Shirley Blakeney took ill. “I was in and out of hospital staying about a week each time,” she said.In severe pain, she said she could do nothing but lie on her back all day.“I was completely debilitated. I lay in my hospital bed on my back. I couldn’t even roll onto my side, the pain was excruciating,” she said.“I was just lying around and needed assistance to do anything,” she said. “The only thing I was getting was pain killers and that was making me nervous.”Mrs Blakeney said she feared the medication would damage her kidneys and after a few weeks of no change in her condition, her fear only grew. At home she had to have a private nurse and what the nurse didn’t do for her, her family did.“I could do nothing. I was in so much pain it was in every inch of my body,” she said. “I didn’t know where this was going to take me I was scared to death.“I was wondering how I would get out of it. Then I just woke up one morning in April and decided to seek help.”Mrs Blakeney said she was not familiar with many alternative health therapies but had once had acupuncture at the Chinese Healing Arts centre. She called owner Troy Tweed and asked his advice.“He came to my home and worked on me in my room. It was tremendous. I was so happy to receive the treatment at home as moving was so painful and tiring for me,” she said.She said the treatment lasted about an hour. “It was more than acupuncture,” she said. “It felt like he was massaging my back. He had me gently move my joints.“These were the exercises. Then he assisted me to the floor and it was unbelievable — the pain was gone,” she said.“It was like he just pulled all the pain out of my body. I had been thinking during the treatment that it was getting time for me to take another pain pill, but when he was finished I did not have to take the pills anymore,” she said.She said apart from a small lump-like feeling on her hip, she felt no pain. “And after the third treatment that completely went as well,” she said.Although she was never convinced of it herself, Mrs Blakeney said her doctor told her she had rheumatoid arthritis. “I always felt something was missing with the diagnosis. I’d always said he’d never seen a part of my body the whole time I had this condition. I never had a physical examination,” she said. “That always seemed wrong to me.”“When I went to his office after the treatments with Troy he was amazed and told me whatever I was doing, I should continue it,” she said.She said her physiotherapist at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) was even more shocked at her recovery.“I had gone for physiotherapy at the hospital and it seemed so impossible to me. When I looked at the long hallway and all the equipment it felt like something I could never achieve. I was in so much pain,” she said.She said in her first physio session she was made to get up and sit down on the couch and that even this simple exercise was torturous.In her second session she was helped onto a stationary bike and told to pedal for five minutes.She said it felt unachievable. In that same session she was made to walk up and down two stairs, but she said she wasn’t able to do it on her own and that the therapist physically helped her.On her third visit, Mrs Blakeney had had the acupuncture from Mr Tweed and when told to cycle said she pedalled quite fast, quite easily.“The therapist was amazed and asked me a lot of detailed questions about my experience with the acupuncture.“She said it was very unusual to see such a dramatic improvement,” said Mrs Blakeney. Thankful for her good health today, Mrs Blakeney continues to have weekly acupuncture with Mr Tweed.“I’ve had about 12 sessions in all,” she said. “I think it’s good not just for treatment but also for maintenance,” she added.And she’s completely open-minded about the power of the treatments.“I let Troy know about anything that is bothering me physically,” she said. “I am slated to have cataract surgery.“I’ve told him if possible I’d rather not have the surgery, so he’s working on that with me, and I feel there’s been a difference,” she said.“I’m eager to see my eye doctor and find out if my condition has improved,” she added. “ I think it’s very likely.”