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Pain

Acupuncture can be very effective in treating a variety of different types of pain, such as musculo-skeletal (tennis elbow, golfers elbow, frozen shoulder, sciatica, arthritis, repetitive strain injury, sports injury) and women�s pain (period cramps, endometriosis).

The Chinese believe that disorders and illness are caused by the unbalanced, obstructed and irregular flow of Qi. Generally, if there is too much Qi stuck in one area then there is not enough in another area, and it is this imbalance that causes pain. The discomfort is relieved by moving Qi and Blood through meridians that serves the painful area and dispelling the pathogenic blockage.

In Western medicine pain is pain and the characteristics of it are not differentiated. Chinese Medicine is more sophisticated as it recognises that there are different types of pain, each with their own nature and causes.

For example, conventional medicine acknowledges that the cold can make arthritic symptoms feel worse but doesn�t clearly understand why, whereas Chinese Medicine has a clear model that accounts for this.

From a Chinese medicine standpoint, pain is often due to stagnation associated with one or a combination of the following: wind, cold, damp, heat, blood or phlegm. Other aspects of pain and their causes can be found in the following table:

Each of these Chinese medical terms derived from nature describe a specific type of sensation, quality, and set of symptoms. Cold (which contracts) and Damp (which causes a sensation of heaviness) are most commonly predominant.

It is necessary to differentiate how much, or how little of each component is involved in the presenting condition in order to create a treatment protocol specialised for that individual.

In my experience, I have found that pain is the most common condition that patients try acupuncture for. However, the reason for its effectiveness is poorly understood in Western medicine. There are mounting theories that acupuncture is beneficial is beneficial for pain sufferers but it is not clear why. There are a few theories to rationalise its mode of action. (see below)

One theory is that acupuncture stimulates the pain inhibitory nerve fibres in the nervous system, which lowers the pain input and therefore, relieves the pain. This faces the difficulty in explaining the long-term effects that acupuncture has in treating pain.

Another thought is that acupuncture involves the release of endorphins (natural painkillers) from central nervous system. However, the effects of acupuncture are very quick but the production of pain-killing chemicals (morphine-like) appears to be a slower process that doesn�t match up with the swiftness.

Finally, there is also the placebo effect, which is flawed due to its success on animals and children.

Despite the numerous amount of research done to answer why acupuncture works, a direct answer is yet to be found. Refer to BBC television programme on Tues 24th Jan at 9.30. �Acupuncture Deactivates Pain�.

For appointments at Mulberry House, please phone 0131 225 2012. For appointments at Room4Health, please phone 0131 553 2646. Any other enquiries, please phone 07801 491 883 or email enquiries@lenafong.com.

 

© Lena Fong 2006. All rights reserved.