And not only will it relieve pain, but if the pressure is strong enough and long enough it will frequently produce an analgesia, or insensibility to pain, or even a condition of anesthesia--in which minor surgical operations may be successfully done. This, of course, is not an infallible or invariable result. Specialists in zone therapy have found pressure effective in obliterating sensation in about 65% of cases; while it will deaden pain, or make it more bearable, in about 80%. In the hands of many who have tried these methods the percentage often is much lower--because they haven’t learned how to apply it. For if the operator doesn’t “hit” the proper areas or focal points he misses them completely--and also misses results. In attempting the relief of pain by “working” from the fingers it should also be emphasized that it makes a difference, too, whether the upper and lower or the side surfaces of the joint are pressed. A physician experimenting with the method was ready to condemn it because he was unable to relieve a patient who complained of rheumatic pains which centered on the outer side of the ankle-bone. The doctor grasped the second joint of the patient’s right little finger and pressed firmly for a minute on the top and bottom of the joint. (See Fig. 3.) The pain persisted, and the doctor jeered at the method. [Illustration: FIG. 3.--Illustrating method of applying anterior and posterior pressure to the finger joint.] A disciple of zone therapy smiled, and suggested that while the doctor had the right finger, he had the right finger in the wrong grip. The doctor was advised to press the sides of the finger (See Fig. 4), instead of the top and bottom. This was done, and the pain disappeared in two minutes. [Illustration: FIG. 4. Illustrating method of applying lateral pressure to the finger joint.] This pressure therapy has an advantage over any other method of pain relief, inasmuch as it has been proved that, in contradistinction to opiates, when zone pressure relieves pain it likewise tends to remove the cause of the pain, no matter where this cause originates. And this in conditions where seemingly one would not expect to secure any therapeutic, or curative, results. For instance, I recall a case of breast tumor, with two fairly good-sized nodes, as large as horse chestnuts. This lady had made arrangements to be operated upon by a prominent surgeon in Hartford, but had postponed her operation a few weeks on account of the holidays.