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Modern medicine and TCM explain the occurrence of pain
in different ways. Modern medical research has discovered
the pain signals are transmitted by specialized nervous
system cells called receptors, which are found throughout
the skin and other body tissues. In 1997, the National
Institutes of Health officially recognized TCM as an effective
treatment for osteoarthritis, headaches, low back pain,
fibromyalgia, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, myofascial
pain, neck pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
These cells respond to injury, inflammation or tissue
damage. The signals travel by electrical and chemical
means, from receptors through sensory neurons to the
spinal cord and then through interneurons in the spinal
cord to the brain, where they are finally interpreted
as pain.
TCM takes a different view. This view is one of
balance: a balance between the principles of Yin
and Yang, and
between Qi (pronounced "chee) and Blood.
Qi and Blood travel through the body along
well-defined pathways
called channels or meridians. When there is
not enough Qi and Blood or when they are stuck
in an area, there
is an imbalance between Yin and Yang. As a
result of this imbalance, internal organs are
not functioning optimally
and illness and pain develop.
What Causes Pain?
According to TCM theory, pain can be caused by “Qi” and
blood stagnation, dampness-cold obstruction in
the meridians and kidney deficiency. A combination
of Electronic acupuncture,
acupressure and Infrared therapy can restore
the above imbalances to promote natural healing.
The World Health Organisation recognises the use
of TCM for more than 70 types of conditions, including
acute spine pain, neck and back pain, rheumatoid
arthritis, sciatica and temporo-mandibular joint
dysfunction. |
Where there's
pain, there is no flow.
Pain is caused by the stagnation of energy or fluids.
When flow is restrained or interrupted, pain occurs,
alerting us to the problem. Three causes of pain are:
1. Obstruction (blocked flow - due
to injury, swelling, oversupply or engorgement of qi
or blood)
2. Constraint (restrained flow - due to emotional,
psychic, or mental constraint),
3. Deficiency (weak flow - due to deficiency
of qi or blood)
Pain in TCM is due to the non-free flow of qi and/or
blood. When the qi and blood flow freely, there is no
pain. Therefore, it is essential to keep our qi and blood
full and moving freely for optimal health and well-being
and especially for being pain free.
The flow of qi and blood can become inhibited in any and every area of
the body: the internal organs, the muscles, the joints, and the low back.
The Chinese and Indians believe
that ill-health is a result of imbalance in our
body. Imbalance lowers our resistance to disease |
For example, when we overeat and have acute
indigestion with the accompanying sensations of abdominal
fullness, bloating, and distention, these symptoms are
due to the stagnation of stomach qi. In this case, the
stomach qi cannot move freely through the excessive amount
of food and drink in the stomach. Likewise, when we bruise
ourselves and blood escapes from the blood vessels and
then pools, we experience a mild form of blood stagnation.
In both these cases the stagnation is not serious. We
feel better within a short time and are free of symptoms
when the qi and blood resume their proper functioning
and are flowing freely.
The term painful menstruation (dysmenorrhea)
refers to pain that occurs before, during, or after
the menstruation. As many as half of menstruating
women are affected by dysmenorrhea, and
of these, about 10% have severe dysmenorrhea, which
greatly limits activities for one to three days
each month.
The pain may occur in the lower abdomen, lower
back, and may extend down to the legs. In severe
cases, there may be nausea and vomiting or even
fainting. Some women describe cramps as being
sharp throbbing pains that come and go while
others describe them to be dull and constant.
Some people may think that having cramps is just
simply part of the unfortunate things that women
go through; however, according to traditional
Chinese medicine (TCM), it reveals that there
is an imbalance occurring in the body which can
be resolved.
Studies show that primary dysmenorrhea is associated
with uterine hyper contractibility: during contractions
endometrial blood flow is reduced, and there
is a correlation between minimal blood flow and
maximal colicky pain - thus confirming that ischemia
(lack of blood supply) due to hyper contractibility
causes primary dysmenorrhea. This ties in with
the TCM perspective that Qi and blood flow is
stagnated in most cases of women suffering with
dysmenorrhea.
For a normal period to occur, blood must be
abundant and move adequately. Proper movement
of blood relies on the free flow of liver Qi
(energy). If liver Qi is stagnant, it causes
pain especially before the period. If liver-blood
is stagnant, it causes pain during the period.
Stagnation is the most important thing to treat
when dealing with painful menstruation. |
According to TCM, the sensations of pain
due to qi stagnation or blood stasis are different. Qi
stagnation causes a feeling of distention or soreness
that fluctuates in intensity and location. Qi stagnation
pain often occurs with strong emotional changes. Blood
stasis, on the other hand, is characterized by painful
swelling or stabbing, sharp pain at a specific, fixed
location.
Qi stagnation over a long period of time (relative
and different for each person but we are talking
about many hours and days) is able to lead to a condition
where the Qi cannot move the Blood and this causes
the Blood to stagnate (pool) or congeal (coagulate).
This pattern is most commonly seen in cases of Liver
Qi Stagnation that is due to emotional and mental
issues. If Blood becomes deficient in some way, this
eventually will lead to Qi deficiency as Qi is said
to move with Blood. Then, if the deficient Qi fails
to move the Blood, Blood stasis ensues. |
TCM Qi
Stagnation - the clinical manifestations
of Qi stagnation are:
Distension in the chest, epigastrium or abdomen
Distending pain that moves from place to place
Abdominal masses that appear and disappear
Abdominal distension and pain that is not relieved by a bowel movement
Premenstrual tension, dysmenorrhea
Mental depression, mood swings, a gloomy feeling, frequent sighing
Headache, irritability
Constipation with small round stools
Western Medicine has no concept of anything
like Qi Stagnation as such.
Source |
TCM
Blood Stasis - the clinical manifestations
of Blood Stasis are:
Dull/dark complexion, purple lips, purple nails,
purple petechiae, purple venules
Pain that has the quality of boring in, fixed and stabbing and
may be worse at night
Abdominal masses that do not move
Bleeding with dark blood and dark clots
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Pain
and Imbalance
STUCK QI -
Channel Pain - Flow No Go
There are at least ten separate flows of energy traversing the back.
Much back pain is a sign of obstruction or constraint of qi in the channels.
Old or new injuries, emotional constraint, anatomical obstructions, and
other events can constrain the qi of the channels.
EXCESS QI -
Upper Back Pain - Congested Heat
Upper back pain is commonly caused by interior heat which rises in the
channels (heat rises) and lodges in the neck, shoulders, and head causing
tension in the muscles.
WEAK QI -
Lower Back Pain - Low Batteries
Energy is stored in the low back, keeping the back strong, and holding
the spine erect. Depletion of this energy (kidney qi) will weaken the
lower back enabling injuries to occur. Stress, injury, illness, overwork,
excessive sex, drugs, and over stimulation of the brain, drain the kidney
qi and weaken the lower back.
Quality of the
Pain
 Boring
Pain - an excess condition, this is
pain that feels as if the point of sharp implement
is being pushed into the tissue at a fixed location.
It may occur anywhere and it is due to Blood stasis
.
Colicky
Pain - an excess condition, this is pain that
results from the spasmodic and cramping of smooth muscle in
the intestinal tract and uterus. It is typical of BS or Cold.
Cutting
Pain - an excess condition, this is very sharp
pain that feels like a knife being drawn through the tissue.
It usually occurs in the lower abdomen and is due to BS.
Distending
Pain - an excess condition, this is pain that
is accompanied by a sensation of distension (bloating) and is
typical of QS Qi stagnation, especially of the Liver. This distension
may be felt upon palpation when the area feels distended like
a drum, especially on the abdomen.
Pushing
Pain - an excess condition, this is pain accompanied
by a feeling that something is pushing outwards in the epigastrium
or hypochondrium that is due to severe QS Qi stagnation.
Spasmodic
Pain - an excess or deficiency condition, this
is pain accompanied by the sensation of voluntary (striated)
muscle spasm in the limbs and tendons. It may be due to Liver
QS Qi stagnation (excess) or Liver Blood deficiency (deficiency).
Pain of fibromyalgia,
arthritis, and other chronic conditions have multiple
roots. Obstruction, constraint, and
deficiency are all combined in many cases of intractable
chronic pain. Prolonged restrictions of flow eventually
cause malnourishment and deficiency.
In many cases where the cause of pain is unknown, including
most cases diagnosed as fibromyalgia, the true cause
is rooted in a deficiency of Liver Blood or Liver Yin.
In TCM the Liver governs flow, and the Liver Yin produces
fluids that lubricate the joints and tendons. These Liver
deficiencies do not indicate harm to the actual liver.
Instead they produce painful conditions that can be variously
diagnosed as fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and functional
pain. These conditions can have mild to severe pain of
the joints and tendons and can appear and disappear.
These chronic conditions require
Everyone has both Yin and Yang
regardless if you are biologically male or female.
Their interactions are complementary and mutually
interdependent. Together they permeate all individual
and collective evolution. Healthy Yin and healthy
Yang are fully present within the reflections of
each other. Neither can dominate. They balance
each step in the evolution of our human species,
all species, and all forms of being throughout
Creation. Just as an individual's personal evolution
invites but never attempts to dominate the collective
evolution, healthy Yin and Yang welcome each other
in harmony, neither haughty, but both are equally
masterful in the fullness of being. |
Balance
Yin yang
Yin-yang
influences our body, mind and emotions. When they
are in balance, we experience good health,; if either
one dominates the result is ill health.
Each of us literally chooses,
by his way of attending to things, what sort of
universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.
William James |
Yin and yang are two sides of a coin. The
tail is yin, then the head is yang. They exist alongside
one another. The head cannot exist without the tail,
and the tail cannot exist without the head. The earth
we live on is yin, and the sun that brings us warmth
is yang. A woman is yin, and a man is yang. Sadness is
yin, while joyfulness is yang
Let’s look at
an example. Imagine that you are
in a heated argument.
In most cases, we tend to become
agitated when the other party begins to argue.
This is quite natural. Unfortunately, the heated
energy is yang. When you respond with agitation,
it is also yang, and the whole situation will
get off-balance.
Try doing something
to avert the ‘yang-yang’ imbalance,
and achieve the yin-yang balance.
Instead of rebuttal, stay silent
for a moment.
See what happens! You are now introducing
to the energy field a noticeable level of yin
energy. In other words, you are now altering
the state of the energy field by lowering the
yang energy.
Out
of Control Yang The Root of
Cancer, Chaos and "Dis Ease" Cancer
is a cellular identity problem
in which the balancing regulatory
gene, part of the cell's
identification essence, has
gone haywire, and causes it to "forget" its
relationship as one cell within
one whole body. This weak
imbalanced Yin effect (the
out of control creation of cells)
is in proportion to uncontrolled
weak Yang. Yin reacts and becomes
weak in
response to Yang's attempt
to have unhealthy sole identity
dominance. Yin, in its weakened
state, over-expresses creation
in some of
the body's cells by having
them make more copies of themselves
than is necessary.
In essence, cancer cells have lost
their identity, flow and purpose, just as weak
Yang has. They no longer have a functioning regulatory
gene that regulates their identity. Their identity,
which includes their relationship with themselves
and to the whole body, has been lost. Cancer
(an out of control feminine aspect of creating
cells) may be the result of blocking healthy
Yin flow just as its male counterpart, weak Yang,
blocks life flow
Dr. Pokea Source |
Chinese Medicine, as a science, observes and supports
the flow of Yin and Yang within the body. Yin energy,
akin to the moon and Mother Earth, reflects the feminine
and aspects of nature that are cool dark, quiet and solid.
Yang energy, akin to the Sun, mirrors the masculine facets
of nature that are boisterous, bright, and expansive.
Yin and Yang's harmonious continuum of balance allows
healthy Chi (life energy) to flow in the body and within
all life. Chi keeps the body in the fullness of health
through its balanced flow in the meridians of the body.
Within Chinese Medicine the removal of barriers in the
healthy flow of Chi turns the body from disease back
to health.
In the human body as elsewhere,
acidity and alkalinity are relative to each other(Yin
and Yang), a relationship which is expressed
as pH-value. In nature pH values range between
0 and 14, where 0 denotes Hydrochloric Acid and
14 Caustic Soda, both of which are clearly in
the unhealthy range for our bodies, whereas pure
water has a pH of around 7+, which then is considered
pH-Balance.
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"Once there was a young wife who tried to send
her very wealthy but much older husband to an early grave
so that she could marry her lover. This pretty, young
woman was a wonderful cook and she was especially good
at making fried rice- which her husband, Mr. Yang, loved.
Therefore, he frequently ate fried rice. The wife ensured
his diet was high in ‘yang’ foods. There
were a lot of fried food and meat, nourishing herbal
meat soups as well as sweet desserts in his diet. Before
retiring each night, she gave her husband either herbal
tonic wine or ginseng chicken soup to improve his vitality.
[Wine, Korean ginseng and chicken are ‘heaty yang’ foods].
Gradually, her husband started to
suffer from frequent sore throat, canker sores,
fever and headache. Hot weather
made him break out in heat rash. He became impatient,
irritable and short tempered. His blood pressure
rose, complexion became ruddy and often fell hot.
His gums,
swollen and tender, bled easily . sometimes,
there were nosebleeds. His urine was dark, stools
hard and he was
often thirsty. Mr. Yang also could not sleep
well. His sleep was often restless and troubled
by unsettling dreams.
he suffered from constipation, made worse by
eating ‘obstructive’ or
high-fiber food such as olives, guava and lotus
root
Mr. Yang exhibited an excessively ‘yang’ constitution
and ailments brought about by a lopsided, unbalanced ‘Yang’ diet.
Diet plays an important role in determining our state
of health. To maintain good health, there should be a
balance of yin and yang as well as neutral food in the
diet.
Since Mr. Yang’s constitution was in a very yang
state, he should eat more ‘yin’ food
to restore balance. Yin foods are often low in
calories. Lots of
fruits, vegetables and legumes are often in this
category. He should eat more raw, steamed and
boiled food to dissipate
excessive heat in his body. Boiled spinach for
example, is cooling and moistens the body. Raw
cucumber, melons,
tofu and many types of lightly cooked leafy green
vegetables are beneficial in his diet. Wheat
dumplings which is
damp and cooling is preferable to fried rice.
American ginseng tea, which is cooling, is a
good substitute for
Korean ginseng" Source
A challenge
for us in life is to use the tools available to naturaly
balance the yin and yang in our health. The better
we are in finding equilibrium, the more healthy we
can be.
Pain
problems and Imbalance can ruin anybody's day. It is
disabling dis-ease highly prevalent in the Western World.
The sad thing is people live with Imbalance through their
daily life.
Running off to a conventional doctor, you'll be given a prescription
for some type of drug like pain killer antacids etc which one has the
possibility of developing a dependency. If you're going to go down the
conventional road of surgery, it means cutting into your body and causing
problems that were often not there to start with eg damaged muscles and
tendons.
Some of us have tried
less conventional protocols like massages .
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is probably one of the oldest complementary
therapies and continuously practiced systems of medicine in the world.
This unique medical system is used to treat a wide range of diseases,
and is widely known throughout the world to be especially useful in treating
various kinds of pain
There are machines specifically
designed for pain and Balance:
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Ultrasound Therapy - TENS
Treatments - Blood Laser Therapy - Infra red unit
Feature
Four group frequency conversion electrotherapy
output
Two group far infrared thermotherapy output
One group laser treatment output
One group heart rate survey output
Intelligent language prompt
Colour LCD demonstration
Ten functions for choice
UltraSound Device
2xFrared Thermotherapy Belt
4xSelf Adhesive Electrodes
Nasal Lazer electrode
2xDrug/ Medicine Electrodes
2xElectrode Leads
Heart Rate monitor Lead
Foot massage Shoes
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