Treating Pain With Chinese Medicine

Treating pain with Chinese Medicine is not new  in fact Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)is probably one of the oldest complementary therapies and continuously practiced systems of medicine in the world. Developed through empirical observation
by the Chinese over thousands of years, this unique medical system is used to treat a wide range of diseases, and is of especial use in treating various kinds of pain.

Everyone Experiences Pain

Everyone will, at some time or another, suffer from pain or disability. Pain is an unpleasant experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. It may arise from accident or injury, cancer, arthritis, a multitude of physical ailments or even emotional distress.

It may affect the head, neck, torso or any of the extremities as well as internal organs, causing different kinds of pain, such as headache, neck pain, throat pain, shoulder pain, joint pain, abdominal pain and lower back pain.

No matter what the cause, pain, especially chronic pain, transcends simply physical hurt. It limits the activities of everyday living and can erode the sufferer’s ability to function. However, pain is, in reality, nature’s way of protecting the body from potential tissue damage, because it serves as a warning signal, alerting the person that something is wrong.

In this sense we can say that to avoid pain is to avoid severe injury. How do modern medicine and TCM explain the occurrence of pain? Modern medical research has discovered that pain signals are transmitted by specialized nervous system cells (receptors), which are found throughout the skin and other body tissues. These cells respond to injury, inflammation or tissue damage.

Immediately after receiving these messages, the signals travel by electrical and chemical means, from receptors through sensory neurons to the spinal cord and then through inter-neurons in the spinal cord to the brain, where they are finally interpreted as pain. TCM takes a different view: that the body maintains a balance between the principles of Yin and Yang, and between Qi and Blood.

Qi And Blood

Qi and Blood travel through the body along well-defined pathways called channels. When there is not enough Qi and Blood (Emptiness or Deficiency), or when they are stuck in one area (Fullness or Excess), there is an imbalance between Yin and Yang, the Internal organs are not functioning optimally, and illness and pain develop. Pain, whether acute or chronic, could have a variety of causes.

Acute pain is usually characterized by acute onset, a short duration, normal functioning of both the peripheral and central nervous systems, a predictable course and, in most cases, a good outcome. In terms of modern medicine, acute pain usually is the result of an injury, surgery, inflammation or medical illness. Acute pain often goes away with the healing process.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain, however, is different; it is the kind of pain that most people worry about as it lasts beyond the expected time for healing; that is, it does not go away when it is supposed to.

Chronic pain is often difficult to relieve or cure completely, and may occur even if there is no tissue damage or physical cause. The exact causes of chronic pain are not fully understood, or, in other words, one could say that there is no adequate medical explanation for many chronic pain cases.

Pain can be extremely debilitating and frequently requires unique treatment approaches. In some cases it can be seen that the damaged tissues have been repaired, but nevertheless the pain continues. Besides tissue damage, there are some other clinical symptoms associated with pain, such as muscle tension, spasm, stiffness, or weakness.

There could also be some degree of immobilization of an injured part by the patient in order to avoid pain from movement. It has also been observed that, whatever the cause of chronic pain, feelings of frustration, anger and fear make the pain more intense and more difficult to treat.

In short, pain, especially chronic pain, interferes with normal life and physical activities. We could even say that such pain can often diminish the quality of people’s life in terms of their psychology, sociology and physiology. It is, finally, one of the most frequent causes of suffering and disability in the world today.

Western Medicine

In Western medicine it is quite common to find or be told that doctors are unable to find the real cause of pain in patients even after extensive examination. Patients are often told: ‘There is nothing wrong with you’, or ‘Sorry, we can do nothing about it, and you’ll have to learn to live with it’ or even ‘It is all in your head’.

It is poor practice, however, for a doctor to make such comments to patients; they don’t have to live in pain. Fortunately, since acupuncture has acquired a very good reputation as a treatment for relieving pain, many physicians are now referring their patients for an acupuncture or herbal evaluation, or patients are starting to investigate the potential of acupuncture and herbal treatment for themselves.

Acupuncture

Points from different channels are, according to TCM theory, energetically connected to specific organs and body structures. The purpose of acupuncture treatment for pain is to use selected points on these channels to activate Qi and Blood circulation, and balance Yin and Yang. During the treatment, moxibustion and point massage are also often applied simultaneously.

Acupuncture treatment for pain is varied and based largely on what is causing the patient’s suffering; the treatments for acute and chronic pain are often quite different. In chronic pain patients, treatment that had proved useful for acute pain management may lose its effectiveness, be inappropriate or even be counterproductive.

The Chinese do not limit the use of Chinese herbs and acupuncture to alleviating pain; they use combinations of herbs and acupuncture to treat the whole range of diseases that are encountered in association with the pain. These include TCM therapies for hypertension, hypotension, allergy, asthma, diabetes, stomach ulcers, depression, infections, etc.

It is clear that many diseases respond better to modem medicine, whereas some may respond better to Chinese herbal medicines and acupuncture. Being informed is your best asset if you decide to you explore TCM. Over 500 million people use TCM in China for treatment of pain and other diseases that alone should speak for itself on it’s effectiveness.

You can find many formulas and herbal liniments for pain HERE