Pain And Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine's view of pain is that it is caused by qi stagnation, blood stagnation or the occurrence of both within the body. The answer to pain is to activate qi and blood by removing the stagnation, which requires the use of herbs. Traditional Chinese Medicines prescribes herbal remedies by way of "formulas".

Formulas allow for the treatment of ailments and symptoms with a balance of herbs instead of just one. This balance dispels any unwanted side effects or complications that may arise with a single application of treatment.

When locating pain in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) there are three main keys used in diagnostic procedures. The three keys are: location, type and cause.

Where is the pain located exactly on the body (upper, lower, external, internal)? What type of pain is the patient experiencing (sharp, dull, stabbing, fixed or spreading)?

What is the cause of the pain (muscle spasms, injury like a structural damage)?

A complete evaluation of these three factors is critical to arriving at a correct diagnosis.

Headache pain can be complicated, especially that of a migraine. Location can be tricky as the pain can be located in the occiput, vertex, orbital or in the sinuses. There are several herbs used for headache pain including corydalis and pueraria root as well as cnidium nd tea formula (chuan xiong cha tiao san).

Pain from neck or shoulder injuries can be in two categories: acute or chronic. The symptoms that present in acute pain are usually redness, inflammation, swelling and the presense of a sharp pain. Chronic injuries have symptoms of stiffness, discomfort, numbness and a dull pain. Acute pain can be caused by accidents, bad sleeping positions, and also bad posture when reading. Herbs like corydalis are used to relieve pain and promote good blood circulation. Chronic pain is treated can be treated by corydalis and the lindera formula (wu yao shunqi san) for shoulder pain and atractylodes and arisaema combined to relieve the pain of neck and shoulder disorders.

There is also acute and chronic pain associated with back pain. Tuhuo and loranthus combination is used to relieve acute back pain. Herbal formulas are geared towards whether the pain is a kidney yin deficiency, a kidney yang deficiency or both kidney yin and yang; different formulas for different deficiency.

Musculoskeletal pain can have both cold and hot etiologies. Gentiana macrophylla root is a popular treatment for musculoskeletal pain. When spasms are involved white peony and licorice have properties for relieving them.

Traumatic injury is another type of pain; that of broken bones, sprains, surgical incisions, internal trauma or physical traumas. Cinnamon and hoelen formula (gui zhi fu ling wan) is used for internal bleeding after trauma and persica and rhubarb for the treatment of subcutaneous bleeding that accompanies swelling and pain.

Any herbal treatment is prescribed in formulas that are individually designed based on symptom and location. No two treatments are the same as symptoms and locations can differ. Pain can differ depending on cause and type of pain.