On and off knee pain for 3-4 months. When it was hurting very badly, the patient was limping. It was hurting on the lateral side of the right knee, but after I palpated around the knee and leg, I found out it IT band was extremely tight. So I needled the lateral side of opposite arm. Pain reduced from 4 out of 10 to 1 out of 10.
It's normal for the pain to come back the next day with a chronic case like this, and it will generally take about 3-4 weeks of continuous treatment to heal. Unfortunately, this patient is too busy to come in for his follow-up treatments. So he is still hurting from time to time.
Acupuncture works well and fast, but it's not magic. It direct your own healing power to the problem, but your body still needs time to heal itself, especially when you get a little older.