Dr. Na Zhai Clinic Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

Anna's Story: Walking Again

Anna was 19 years old when her foot betrayed her.

She was a college student at Western Illinois University, studying Piano Performance and Music Education. She was also the daughter of two healthcare professionals—her father a chiropractor, her mother a registered nurse.

The pain came from nowhere. No injury. No warning. By evening, her foot was swollen and icy cold. By the next day, she could not walk at all.

She needed crutches that first day. They thought it might be a bad sprain or a broken bone.

X-rays were normal. A bone scan was normal. A couple of ER visits followed to rule out a blood clot. Doppler studies were performed—negative. During the next three weeks, she had to use crutches and even a wheelchair to get around campus.

She visited six doctors. A vascular surgeon suspected a blood clot. An emergency room ruled it out. Another doctor thought it was Raynaud's Disease. A rheumatologist, Dr. Robert Trapp in Springfield, Illinois, suggested it might be Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.

By this time, the muscles of her right leg showed signs of atrophy and discoloration. She was in severe pain even while using steroids and narcotics.

Dr. Trapp recommended three things:

1. Take steroids and narcotics—which she had already tried, with a reaction of passing out.

2. Get extensive physical therapy—her eyes opened wide with horror at the thoughtof anyone touching her leg.

3. See a Chinese doctor who used acupuncture and had good results. That is when they found Dr. Na Zhai.

The First Treatment

Anna came to Dr. Na's clinic on crutches.

Dr. Na examined her and came to a different conclusion than the other doctors. Anna did not have a circulation problem, she said. She had toxicity that had been building up in her body over time. That toxicity had caused inflammation, which had been burning not only her arteries but her entire body system. This inflammation was the cause of the burning pain, the swelling, and the coldness.

Dr. Na treated her with a specific acupuncture protocol she has refined over decades of clinical work.

When Anna stood up from the treatment table, Dr. Na asked her to walk without her crutches.

Anna was scared at first. She had been in so much pain for so long. She was afraid of what would happen.

She walked.

Without crutches. Without assistance.

Her father took her to that first treatment. She walked in using crutches, with a wheelchair in the car.

When her mother called later to ask how she had tolerated the treatment, her father told her something astonishing: Anna was walking around Kohl's department store.

Her mother asked how that was possible, since it had been impossible for the past four weeks.

Her father, voice breaking, told her that Anna was rapidly walking around the store—and he was holding her crutches.

They both had tears of joy. They knew they had found her miracle.

Anna herself said, tears in her eyes:

"I was immediately better. I walked without crutches after my first acupuncture treatment. I went in with my foot swollen and not being able to move my toes. Now I looked at my foot and it was not swollen anymore, and I could wiggle my toes again. I never imagined this would have been possible. It was a complete turnaround. I was totally shocked."

Going Down to the Root

But Dr. Na was not finished.

The acupuncture had awakened Anna's healing system. It had opened the door. But the root cause—the toxicity—was still there.

"Now let us go down to the root," Dr. Na said.

She prescribed Anna a herbal powder called Body Clean—one of Dr. Na's many proprietary formulas. Body Clean is not a painkiller. It is a safe, natural cleansing agent designed to clear metabolic waste that has accumulated in the colon over years. It works without side effects, and it works quickly.

"The acupuncture awakened the healing system of Anna's body," Dr. Na explained. "But the root cause, the toxicity, was still there. Body Clean would effectively remove it."

Anna continued her treatment—the acupuncture sessions and the herbs. She became better and better. After her third acupuncture session, she said:

"I still have some mild pain in my foot, but I am not on crutches or any medication."

She had done her own research. She knew that her condition, left untreated, could have spread to other parts of her body. It could have gotten worse. She might have eventually lost her leg.

Instead, she walked out of Dr. Na's office.

What Anna's Story Shows

Anna's case is not just a story about acupuncture. It is a story about looking deeper.

Six doctors focused on the symptom—the circulation problem, the swelling, the pain. Dr. Na focused on the root cause—the toxicity that had been building up over time.

The core mechanisms of Dr. Na's healing system start from two synchronized protocols, the same for every patient in her clinic:

• Clearing metabolic waste accumulated in the colon over years—using a safe, proven Traditional Chinese Medicine formula with consistent efficacy.

• Awakening and balancing the body's systems—using a unique acupuncture method.

For Anna, the acupuncture gave her immediate relief. The herbs addressed the root. Together, they did what months of conventional treatment could not do: they gave her back her ability to walk.

This is the system Dr. Na built. This is what she offers.

And it began with a physician—Dr. Robert Trapp—who was open enough to refer a patient to something different.

A Note on Long-Term Outcomes

Anna's story did not end after her third treatment. That was nearly 20 years ago. She continued to have some treatments with Dr. Na to get her body back into balance. And to this day, this problem has not returned.

Her recovery was not temporary. It was lasting.

What Anna's Parents Wrote

Anna's parents are both healthcare professionals. Her mother is a registered nurse. Her father is a chiropractor. They know medicine. They know the system.

Twelve years after Anna's treatment, they wrote a letter.

"Dr. Zhai is a dedicated and compassionate health care provider who has earned the respect of many other PC's in the Springfield Illinois region," they wrote.

"She also recognizes that her treatments are not always stand alone but would benefit from working within the medical community. The premise within acupuncture treatment is different than our perspective within western medicine, but we have seen the two working together benefitting patients."

This is not just gratitude from a family. It is a professional assessment from within the medical community.