About Pain
Pain is a subjective symptom in your body that warns you if something is wrong. Pain threshold vary greatly from person to person. Emotions (distress, anxiety and fear etc.) may heighten pain. Sometimes the pain can be felt at the area far from pain-causing problem: for example, the pain can be felt in the left arm in a angina case, which is called referred pain. Every year millions of people consult their doctors about pain. The various pains, aches and stiffness arise from various causes. Pain erodes the quality of life.
View of TCM
In the view of TCM, qi (the form of energy) flows through the 14 major meridians in human body. The meridians connect the internal organs and carry qi and blood to the whole body. A blockage in a meridian can cause pain. The causes of blockage may be qi stagnation, blood stasis, phlegm or internal cold/heat.
Among these causes, qi stagnation (from liver disorder by emotional factor) is most common.
Treatment of TCM
In today’s society, most people experienced pain and took pain-killer to dull it. Nevertheless the cause of the pain did not go away. Trying bed rest and taking painkiller dull temporally the pain, but they may also have a diagnosis to mislead and make the problem worse. By the way, most pain-killers can cause side effects. Surgery is a effective choice for some pain, but it is not suitable to all pain.
Acupuncture is an gold option that is a reliable, safe, effective and natural way to eliminate the cause of pain or pain itself (acute and chronic). Acupuncture can unblock blocked meridians to treat not only pain but also the source of pain. Acupuncture is not like medicines that usually have side effects. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) have acknowledged the benefits of acupuncture as a useful treatment for pain.
Research reveals acupuncture can:
1. Stimulate the nervous system to release chemicals (endorphins, cortisol, ACTH)
2. Improve energy and biochemical balance in physical and emotional well-being
3. Relieve muscle spasm and eliminate inflammation
4. Enhance the effect of other therapies, and reduces unwanted side effects of medicines
Many patients have their pain, swelling and stiffness significantly relieved just after 6-10 acupuncture treatments. Often they have been able to reduce, discontinue the corticoids, phenylbutazone and lead a
more normal life. Acupuncture can have marked improvement in a short period of time.