Back pain – a widespread complaint

Back pain and TCM:
diverse causes – individual treatments

 

Almost everyone has had personal experience of back pain. Many people resort to the use of painkillers, but that’s not a long-term solution. Cause is key. One of the particular features of Traditional Chinese Medicine is that it defines a broad spectrum of triggers for back pain. Therefore has a key role in the approach taken by Traditional Chinese Medicine, tracking the specific cause and providing the basis for successful pain therapy.

 

Poor posture

It is relatively easy to identify external influences that lead to back problems – lack of exercise, poor posture when sitting, and being overweight, for example. Traditional Chinese Medicine also considers environmental factors such as cold and heat, humidity and wind, conditions that may weaken the immune system, resulting in blockages in the Qi flow, which can cause back pain.
 

Disruptions to bodily functions

Finding the causes of inner changes is more complicated. In this regard, an area of particular interest to Traditional Chinese Medicine is the kidney. It is more than just an organ. The kidney controls a variety of functions and processes throughout the body. Functional disorders of the kidney may also be traced back to blockages in or a shortage of Qi life energy in the meridians associated with the kidney. This affects middle-aged people in particular.
 

Disruption to the circulation of body fluids

Traditional Chinese Medicine also considers obstructions to the circulation of organic fluids a likely cause of pain. For example, blood, lymph and intercellular fluids supply the body with nutrients and also remove contaminants. If this circulation is disrupted, the tendons and musculature lose their strength and elasticity. The result is back pain intensified by the build-up of deposits.
 

Lingering infections

Traditional Chinese Medicine places a special focus on past infections – colds, for example – that have not been fully cured through medication. Medicines leave substances in the body which can cause inflammation over time, leading to back pain or even arthrosis. Treatments with TCM release these harmful substances.
 

Degenerative illnesses

In arthrosis, slipped disc, spondylolisthesis and other conditions caused by wear and tear, TCM treatments will often prevent or at least delay the need for an operation. Appropriate TCM therapy also relieves the associated back pain with no need for the patient to worry about side effects. If surgery is an option under consideration it may be worth obtaining the opinion of an experienced TCM therapist first.
 

Diagnostic competence

With many years of experience, the therapists at TCM Chan are well qualified to diagnose the specific causes of back pain. Having done so, they devise therapies specially tailored to each patient’s individual situation. Depending on the diagnosis, these will essentially work to release blockages affecting the flow of Qi life energy, respond to a lack of Qi with a targeted therapy, and counter pathogenic external influences such as cold, heat, humidity and wind. Treatments will centre around the use of acupuncture and herbal therapies, or a combination of both.