Back Pain
This medicine is very effective at relieving Back Pain. Back Pain is a very common ailment, especially among the elderly. In western medical terms can be caused by damaged disks, alignment problems, soft tissue problems referred pain, or muscle problems. In my practice I work to get to the root of the back pain, because the pain itself is often a symptom of the real problem. I treat both the immediate pain and the root of the problem at the same time
In Asian Medicine we have a variety of causes for back pain.
Qi stagnation
Qi is pronounced “Chee” . This energy that circulates throughout your body. In this medicine. Qi stagnation can be caused by cold or damp or from mechanical means such as a muscle spasm or pinched nerve.
We treat this condition with acupuncture, herbs, exercise and lifestyle changes. Acupuncture and herbs can be used both to relieve the immediate pain and the long term root cause. Exercise such as stretching and strengthening along with lifestyle changes are more often targeted at the root cause of the pain.
Blood Stagnation
There are two main causes of blood stagnation; one is trauma. This could be a sport’s injury an automobile accident. The treatment principle is the same as the Qi stagnation. We treat to get the blood moving and the pain goes away. We may also choose to use some herbs to dispel the blood stasis.
The other cause of blood stagnation is when long term Qi stagnation turns into blood stagnation. The Qi is said to move the blood. Should the Qi remain stagnant for long enough, then the local body fluids that are supposed to be flowing begin to stagnate as well. We might also see some emotional component in this particular pathology. If it goes on for long enough it becomes more tight, and compacted. In this case, the body begins to manifest that stagnation in the form of lumps, tumors, sharp pains or other blood circulation problems.
Damp Heat
This pathology can cause radiating pain that actually circles the lower back down into the groin area. This kind of symptom may suggest some problems that might include an infection or inflammation of an internal organ. Herbal formulas are often used to treat this condition.
Kidney Pathology
Kidney pathologies run the gambit from stones, to a deficiency of Yin or Yang in the body. Yin deficiency tends to include lower backache that is a long-term problem, six months minimum with no history of trauma. It just started hurting one day and never went away. Other symptoms of Yin deficiency include hot flashes, night sweats, tinnitus, irritability, restlessness and the feeling that your hands and feet are too hot. Acupuncture treatments would be consistent with stimulating the kidney functions and herbal medicines such as Liu Wei Di Huang Wan would be employed to treat the root cause of the pain.
A deficiency of Kidney Yang could also give rise to lower back pain. Other symptoms of Kidney Yang deficiency would be early morning diarrhea, cold hands and feet, lack of energy, pale face, hearing loss, feeling cold all the time, frequent urination, low libido.
In either case, this medicine seeks to strengthen these organs to take away the lower back pain. This might take a little longer to achieve than the Qi or Blood stagnation problems
By David Martin Acupuncture Physician serving Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples.