Traditional Chinese Medicine for Back Pain and Digestion

I have serious back pain and have written several articles inspired by my desire to eliminate this pain without surgery and drugs. However, when you reach a certain age a lifetime of assaults (falls, diseases, surgeries, emotional upheavals) creates a web of dysfunction and pain as thick as a jungle! (Is my denied frustration apparent?) 

Recently, I also had a gallbladder attack, which adds insult to injury. Especially since I vomited on the floor and on my favorite shoes. It was just too much…to be nauseous, to have severe back pain and to have to wash the floor! I was so livid, frustrated, and angry!

Do all of these disparate life events fit together? How can I maintain my logical, reasoned, balanced thinking? Actually all of these problems do fit into a pattern. It was my research on the gallbladder that led me to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). What I realized as I read is that my back pain follows the Qi energy meridian for the gallbladder. 

I believe the body knows how to heal itself so I have tied to be respectful of my whole self, Mind, Body and Spirit, to enhance healing. I try to be positive about my successes but I’m not where I want to be. I don’t want to describe my pain and quality of life because I am sure there are people in the world far worse off than I. I think about them and judge myself as weak and self-indulgent. This thinking is not useful---one cannot heal under a cloud of self-criticism. 

I postulate that this tendency to emotional self-punishment and feelings of unworthiness contributes to my pain. But logically knowing and understanding these truths has not eliminated the pain. I believe in essential truth---thoughts are energy. My next step is to work with my pain at the essential energy level. I have started working with a Dr. Mo, a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner who graduated from Shanghai University.

Although, I had tried acupuncture before, I decided to work with someone who embodies TMC in my mind. I want to take full advantage of the power of belief. It is the power of belief that creates miracles and makes placebo medications work.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an integrated system in which acupuncture is a key modality for curing disease and disorders of the body. In TCM the body is seen as a delicate balance of opposing and yet inseparable forces--yin and yang. Yin represents the cold, slow, or passive principle, while yang represents the hot, excited, or active principle. Qi (sometimes spelled chi) is the life-process or flow of energy that sustains living beings, which flows through out all life. The acupuncture meridians are the pathways along that the qi follows.

These meridians have been studied with modern technological methods and have been shown to exist and to possess a bioelectric function similar to peripheral nerves but are separate, unique pathways. The 12 main meridians and 8 secondary meridians travel up, down and around the body. The 12 main meridians are referred to as Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, Spleen, Heart, Small Intestine, Bladder, Kidney, Pericardium, Triple Heater, Gall Bladder and Liver.

These meridians are named after the organs or systems that that they influence. The human body is a highly complex electrical circuit, which must be kept in good working order to function effectively. The Qi energy moves in cycles from one meridian to the next every two hours. If the circuit breaks down the result is illness. 

In TCM health is achieved by maintaining a balanced state in the body. Disease is due to an internal imbalance of yin and yang, which leads to blockage in the flow of Qi energy along the meridian pathways.

It is essential for Qi, like blood needs to circulate in a continuous and unobstructed manner for the health of mind and body. There are acupuncture points along the meridians. These points allow entry into the acupuncture meridians and are gateways to influence, redirect, increase, or decrease body’s vital energy and blood to correct body imbalances. Acupuncture utilizes thin needles to activate these energy gateways.

Emma Suttie, D.Ac, tells us that organs are categorized as either Yin or Yang in TMC. Yin organs produce, transform, regulate and store the body’s fundamental substances: Qi, Blood and body fluids. Typically Yin organs are not empty cavities. They have a function and include the Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lungs and Kidneys. Yang organs are empty cavities that have a connection to the outside of the body and are mainly responsible for digestion and the transmitting of nutrients to the body. Yang organs include the Gallbladder, Stomach, Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Bladder and San Jiao (Triple Burner).

There is not one western scientific theory that can collectively explain all of the physiological effects of Acupuncture. Acupuncture has a variety of therapeutic effects on the body and the therapeutic action varies based on the nature of the pathology. It seems that acupuncture primarily produces its effects through the nervous system. For example regulation of the nervous system activates pain-killing biochemicals such as endorphins and immune system cells at specific sites in the body. 

Research indicates that acupuncture alters brain chemistry through the release of neurotransmitters and neuro-hormones. These brain chemicals affect the central nervous system functions related to sensation, immune reactions, and the processes that regulate blood pressure, blood flow, and body temperature.

In TCM the gallbladder is a Yang organ while the Liver, it’s organ partner, is Yin. Not only does the gallbladder store and excretes bile, it governs decision-making and planning, controls the sinews, and effects dreams. At a deep emotional level, the gallbladder is responsible for passion for life, inspiration, action and assertiveness. If we experience a gallbladder imbalance, we may have difficulty being assertive, making decisions or following through. We may lack a sense of passion, feel timid, or feel uninspired. When the gallbladder is balanced, its energy flows freely, and we are happy, healthy, assertive and passionate.

The gallbladder is the only Yang organ that does not have direct contact with food and drink, or a direct connection to the outside of the body. The gallbladder receives bile from the Liver and stores it until needed in the digestive process. In TCM gallbladder is regulated by the energy of the Liver, or Liver Qi when it releases bile. If the relationship between gallbladder and liver is impaired, digestion is adversely effected. Problems like vomiting, regurgitation, belching and hiccups are symptoms of rebellious Stomach Qi.

In ancient China, the organs were never removed this belief is continued in TCM today. For the patient is with gallbladder problems, the TCM practitioner explores dietary options, herbs, acupuncture, and possibly cleanses. Surgery is considered a last resort. 
Suttie explains there are two of the things that affect the gallbladder the most, diet and other is stress. In TCM each organ is associated with an emotion and the liver/gallbladder’s emotion is anger. In TCM philosophy having an healthy emotional life is as important to our health as eating well, getting enough sleep and keeping your Qi strong (immune system) so you are able to fight off pathogens. 

Anger affects the liver/gallbladder in two ways: 1. If you repress anger, hold it in and never express it, this imbalance will hurt the liver/gallbladder and lead to disease. 2. Unusual levels of life stress (a traumatic event, death, an illness, breakup of a relationship, work stress), and/or unhealthy eating (lots of greasy, fatty, rich or spicy foods). 

Eventually, the Liver/Gallbladder will become impaired and these stresses may cause an excess of anger, which will manifest symptoms like red face and eyes, irritability, angry outbursts, ringing in the ears, and migraines. 

So, how do you keep your Gallbladder healthy and happy?

1.Avoid Greasy, Fatty, Rich or Spicy Foods---keep intake of these foods to a minimum and not overload your Gallbladder. Sharp abdominal pains after eating these types of foods indicate to Gallbladder stones and other problems.

2. Express Emotions Freely---any stagnation or blockage causes disease and pain so it is important to have a healthy emotional life express what you are feeling instead of letting it build up. Emotions specific to Gallbladder are anger, frustration, and resentment, etc. Depression, which is considered anger turned inward, also points to a gallbladder imbalance.

3. Eat Foods Grown Locally and in Season---this is the way we are designed to eat. Our digestive systems evolved to digest the foods that people ate when we left our nomadic roots and start farming. Historically, people only ate local foods that were in season. Within the TCM philosophy we are overloading our digestion with too many kinds of foods at all times of the year.

4. Exercise. Keep Moving---because the gallbladder meridian runs bilaterally along the sides of the body, any exercise that stimulates the sides of the body helps the flow of Qi and helps remove any blockages in the gallbladder organ and meridian. Side stretches are ideal. Movement is an essential aspect of keeping Qi flowing.

5. Be Kind to Your Gallbladder in the Spring---spring is the season related to the gallbladder, and liver. It is important to give the gallbladder and liver a rest from caffeine, alcohol and other intoxicants during this time. You may cleanse these organs by drinking lots of water and eating fresh greens.

6. Know What Time It Is---in TCM every organ has 2 hours out of every 12 where it’s Qi is at a peak and gallbladder energy is most abundant between 11pm-1am. At this time refrain from drinking alcohol or other intoxicants and rest the body as much as possible during these two hours.

Foods that are beneficial to the Gallbladder:
Broccoli
Rocket
Beetroot
Oranges
Jasmine tea
Green tea
Radishes
Basil
Garlic
Cayenne (this may seem contradictory, but Cayenne is very moving for Qi. Just remember, moderation!)
Dill
Chive
Cardamom
Lemon
Dandelion root
Licorice root
Cumquat
Grapefruit
Kale
Carrot
Celery
Peppermint tea
Chrysanthemum tea
Tea with orange peel

Foods to avoid: Deep fried food, Alcohol, Spicy foods (moderation is important!), Foods that are considered “Hot” in TCM are lamb, beef, and curry.

https://www.chinesemedicineliving.com/acupuncture/healing-the-gallbladder-with-traditional-chinese-medicine/

http://www.howdoesacupuncturework.com/category/traditional-chinese-medicine/

Prolotherapy for Chronic Back Pain

I am a chronic back pain sufferer. I have ligament laxity. Ligament laxity is a term that refers to ligaments in the body that can move more than usual. Doctors can also call these looser than normal ligaments hyper mobile; they do not generally refer to lax ligaments as a condition. Chiropractors tend to use the term to describe a potential cause of chronic joint pain or sprains.

For me exercise does not improve ligament or tendon laxity. When exercising here is a point of diminishing returns. I realized as muscle strength increased there was a corresponding tendency to tendonitis and ligament strain. Seemingly my muscle strength over powered my ligaments. Physical trainers and even physical therapists that have the “boot camp” mentality and harass one to work through pain often frustrate me. Pain is a symptom of something wrong, not something good.

Yes weight-bearing exercise is healthy, while running faster and longer builds muscle as well as a stronger heart and lungs. However this does me no good if I end up with sprained ankles and I can’t walk at all. Swimming is the best exercise foe me to keep up muscle strength, flexibility and cardiovascular health.

Hyper mobility is genetic. An estimated 5% to 12% of the adult population has some degree of generalized joint hyper mobility associated with ligament laxity. Marfan or Ehlers-Danlos are recognized syndromes, which are generally rare syndromes, and are characterized by ligament laxity and other determinants.  Hyper mobility syndrome appears to be familial with a clear-cut female predominance. Typically symptoms first appear in children or young adults. Although hyper mobile individuals have a potentially heightened aptitude for activities such as gymnastics, dancing, and playing musical instruments, they also have an increased susceptibility to dislocations, traumatic joint pain, tendonitis, and overuse injuries. These problems may present as a fibromyalgia-like syndrome triggered by exercise.

Chronic back pain can be a symptom of underlying structural problems, or it may be a symptom of an underlying condition. It is essential to have an appropriate physical exam to rule out kidney stones or kidney infection, prostatitis, chronic diverticulitis, cancer of the pelvis, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, fibroid tumors, shingles and circulatory deficiency from hardening of the arteries.

Your back supports your entire body, using a complex interconnecting network of nerves, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments. All these components are capable of producing pain in the back, low back and surrounding areas. Because the back is connected to the rest of your body, back pain can be an early warning of underlying conditions elsewhere in your body.

Large nerves that originate in the spine and go to the legs and arms can make pain radiate to the extremities. The pain may be felt in the neck (or might radiate into the arm and hand), in the upper back, or in the low back (and radiate into the leg or foot). Other symptoms may include symptoms weakness, numbness or tingling.

If left untreated, most back problems only worsen as time and gravity take their toll on our bodies. After falling hard on my knee and twisting and torqueing my pelvis I had excruciating lumbar pain for nearly five years. I had sciatic pain shooting through my buttocks and down my leg into my foot. I could walk for about fifteen minutes at a moderate pace but could not tolerate standing after five minutes.

I started with physical therapy and back strengthening which created minor improvement but the PT became a treadmill sadist and I felt myself regress. I saw an orthopedic surgeon who requested I get an MRI. Although, I did have two slightly herniated discs, very slight spinal stenosis, and mild lateral arthritis, I did not meet his criteria for surgery because the pattern of symptoms did not indicate a diagnosis remediable by surgery.

My chiropractor told me about prolotherapy an injection technique that stimulates growth of cells and tissue that stabilize and strengthen weakened joints, cartilage, ligaments and tendons.

The injected solution intentionally causes controlled irritation in the tissue. This irritation is an inflammatory response, which increases the blood supply and thereby stimulates the tissue to heal and regrow new tissue. Typically prolotherapy involves the injection of natural substances such as dextrose into the tissue to initiate the healing process. Dextrose is the most studied substance worldwide and is extremely safe and effective. 

My initial prolotherapy, which occurred 1 ½ years ago, created a 20-30% improvement. (I have not lost any of this improvement.) I also worked with a Rolfer (Structural Integration therapy) and Sacral-Occipital Therapy Chiropractic. I would say I had another 30% improvement. Because I still have a tendency to extreme muscle tension in the lumbar, I felt that the pain had decreased significantly but not enough.

Recently, I attended a Dr. Norm Shealy workshop on wellness protocols. He described sacral shear as the cause of low back pain. This happens when the sacrum become hyper mobile and presses on the sciatic nerve. The sacrum is a small triangular bone located at the bottom of the spine and between the hips. I realized I had originally because I had only addressed half of the hyper mobility affecting my sciatic nerve. I am seeing a local osteopath for prolotherapy injections to strength the ligament laxity around the sacrum.

Prolotherapy was the innovation of Dr. Earl Gedney, an osteopathic physician and surgeon. In the early 1930s, Dr. Gedney caught his thumb in a door thereby stretching the joint and causing severe pain and instability. He was told that nothing could be done for his condition and that his surgical career was over. Gedney knew of a group of doctors that used irritating solutions to stimulate the repair of the distended connective tissue ring as treatment for hernias. He extrapolated this knowledge and utilized it to inject his injured thumb. He was able to fully rehabilitate the thumb. In 1937, Gedney published “The Hyper-mobile Joint,” the first known article about Prolotherapy. The 1937 article gave a preliminary protocol and discussed two case reports, one of a patient with knee pain and another with low back pain who were successfully treated with this method. Prolotherapy is practiced by physicians in the U.S. and worldwide. It is effective in treating many musculoskeletal conditions such as tendonopathies, ligament sprains, back and neck pain, tennis/golfers elbow, ankle pain, joint laxity and instability, plantar fasciitis, shoulder, knee, and other joint pain.  C. Everett Koop, the former US Surgeon General has endorsed prolotherapy, was helped by it, and practices it.

I view this odyssey as a life lesson; it took sixty years to get to this point I cannot expect to reverse the damage quickly. The alternative approaches I have chosen have been researched; they are not paid for by health insurance but they should be. Health insurance should pay for therapies that promote health, not pain killer medication addiction and steroids that cause physical deterioration.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/413950

http://www.prolotherapy.com/Prolotherapy.php

http://www.getprolo.com/tag/sacroiliac-pain/#sthash.BYAO8X00.dpuf

http://www.getprolo.com/prolotherapy-after-back-surgery/

A Back Pain Odyssey

Even as a child I had a lot of back pain.  I fell over the cracks in the sidewalk and would trip over my own feet. Such is childhood. I would run into doorways. I would be looking right at the glass I was grabbing for but rather than the glass ending up in the center of my grasp I would end up poking it with my fingers and over it would go.

Well some things never change—I still trip over cracks in the sidewalk. I have at least two or three hard falls a year this is not good as we get older—I especially worry about my knees. Knee replacements really do not live up to their advertising hype.

I had encephalitis as a child and thought this eye-hand coordination, visual-motor processing issue was an after effect of that illness. There was a time in my life when I thought doctors new everything and could fix every thing. So as an adult I went to a neurologist. I did a complete battery of neurological tests. The end result was—yes I have inconsistent neurological deficits and there is no fix.

I realized that if I wanted to understand who I am as a body in the mind/body/spirit equation I would have to reason it out for my self. My first step was to choose self-acceptance and stop feeling guilty (left over childhood emotional programming) because I cannot consistently catch a moving target (a ball) or remember tai chi routines.

My approach, as a school psychologist, was to self-diagnosis—what other choice did I have? Diagnosis: adult with a hidden Learning Disability in the area of visual-motor processing. Hidden in the terms that the deficit is not visible to others. The topic of hidden disability and adult learning disability is a topic for another day—but it is a topic that deserves attention and acceptance.

So now I have a label but I do not have an explanation for these clumsy, uncoordinated behaviors. These falls typically leave me with back pain from pinched nerves. Since I am more interested in healing the problem than in drowning myself in liver damaging pain medication, my treatment modalities tend to be massage, physical therapy, and chiropractic.

My clumsy behavior never made sense to me until I learned about the neurological process of proprioception. The position-movement sensation, proprioception, has been described as "muscle sense." It is physiologic feedback mechanisms in which a feedback loop exists where commands are carried from the brain to the muscles and then reports on the muscle's condition are sent in the reverse direction. Afferent information (back to the brain) also comes from other structures including tendons, joints, and skin.

My proprioception deficit tends to put me in the wrong place at the wrong time. My estimate is that my reaction time is two to three seconds off. Typically I am three inches off when moving my body through space and half an inch off when pushing buttons on phone or keyboard. Seemingly this is a very big deal in the act of walking through a doorway or past people in a crowded room. In other words I move faster than I visually process. I say to myself step over that person’s foot and I believe that is what I am doing and then crunch I feel myself stepping on their foot.

My many falls have left me with chronic back pain. Back pain is the second most common neurological ailment in the world — only headache is more common. I choose massage, physical therapy and chiropractic to treat the repeated physical stress and chronic conditions.

I, like many back pain sufferers, often believe that during those periods when the pain disappears that the problem has gone away. But this is not always the case—the cause of the pain does not disappear with the symptoms, and in many instances back pain will recur. If left untreated, most back problems only worsen as time and gravity take their toll on our bodies. After falling hard on my knee and twisting and torqueing my pelvis I have had excruciating lumbar pain for nearly five years. I had sciatic pain shooting through my buttocks and down my leg into my foot. I could walk for about fifteen minutes at a moderate pace but could not tolerate standing after five minutes. I wished I could cry because I thought it might make me feel better. I was starting to feel hopeless, which is not like me. I knew I could not live like this for the next 30 years, in my family people live into their 90s. I refused to picture myself as ready for a wheel chair, when we stop ambulatory movement, walking, we enter into the process of entropy. I honor any other individual’s choice. I just thank God for swimming pools. In the pool I was pain free and could get a work out that maintained my strength and stamina.

I started with physical therapy and back strengthening which created minor improvement but the PT became a treadmill sadist and I felt myself regress. I went to an orthopedic physician who requested I get an MRI. Although, I did have two slightly herniated discs, very slight spinal stenosis, and mild lateral arthritis, I did not meet his criteria for surgery because the pattern of symptoms did not indicate a diagnosis remediable by surgery. I totally respected his response because many people go through back surgery and end up worse off than before. He sent me to pain management for two sets of four spinal facet cortisone injections—no improvement. Pain Management’s next suggestion was a technique where they destroy some of the nerves in your back, a rhizotomy. This is where I said goodbye to traditional medicine.

I was continuing to work with my chiropractor. She asked had I thought about prolotherapy? It is a technique that is meant to strengthen weak, over stretched ligaments, as this seems to be a big part of the problem. I did try prolotherapy and felt 20-30% improvement. My hopeful nature returned completely. I felt I still had not found my complete answer. A friend told me she had cured her sciatica problem with Rolfing. I had heard of Rolfing and knew it was criticized for being painful. But I also knew physical therapists who say no pain no gain and I also knew nothing could be as painful as the aftermath of surgery. My Rolfer was a very encouraging person and I did the complete eleven-session program. She also suggested I integrate Sacral-Occipital Therapy Chiropractic into the treatment plan. I would say I have had another 30% improvement. I still have a tendency to extreme muscle tension as if a muscle in the lumbar region goes into spasm. It is this spasm that is the seat of the pain because if I keep that muscle stretched I have no pain. The next step of my odyssey is to discover if a previous viral infection that I know settled in my low back is in fact the culprit causing the current level of muscle spasm pain.

I did also work with a psychologist and a body energy worker. I am a believer in the mind/body/spirit equation. I address all aspects of the healing of my body, mind, and spirit. I view this odyssey as a life lesson; it took sixty years to get to this point I cannot expect to reverse the damage in six months. The alternative approaches I have chosen have been researched; they are not paid for by health insurance but they should be. Health insurance should pay for therapies that promote health not pain killer medication addiction and physical deterioration.

This is a brief description of Rolfing. Rolfing, A system of deep-tissue massage, also known as Structural Integration, has the ability to dramatically alter a person’s posture and structure. It is estimated that more than one million people have received Rolfing work, many for back pain. Research has shown that Rolfing creates a more efficient use of the muscles, allows the body to conserve energy, and creates more economical and refined patterns of movement. Research also demonstrates that Rolfing significantly reduces chronic stress and changes in the body structure. For example, a study showed that Rolfing significantly reduced the spinal curvature of subjects with lordosis (“swayback”). Rolfing has been gaining popularity in the past few decades as a successful treatment for many types of back pain.

 Your back supports your entire body, using a complex interconnecting network of nerves, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments. All these components are capable of producing pain in back, low back and surrounding areas. Because the back is connected to the rest of your body, it also means that pain in back can be an early warning of underlying conditions elsewhere in your body.

Large nerves that originate in the spine and go to the legs and arms can make pain radiate to the extremities. The pain may be felt in the neck (and might radiate into the arm and hand), in the upper back, or in the low back, (and might radiate into the leg or foot), and may include symptoms other than pain, such as weakness, numbness or tingling.

Rolfing sees the body and its structure as a series of interconnected and inter-related bony segments. As a Rolfer will explain to you, your body is designed to provide internal support for all these segments. Large sections rest on sections below them and provide support for sections that are above them. In this case, the back, especially the lower back, provides internal support for almost all of your body. To understand how Rolfing treatment for the back works, it is important to recognize that the back pain cannot be understood by looking at the back alone. It is crucial to understand that Rolfing will treat the body not as individual parts, but as a whole, so the whole organism realigns.

Dr. Ida Rolf, a pioneer in bodywork, perfected the technique structural integration called Rolfing. According to Dr. Rolf, the traditional idea of standing up straight, shoulders back, stomach in and head high, actually misaligns the spine and deforms the skeleton.

Rolfing operates through a sequence of hands-on manipulation, the Rolfers move the tissue of the back and lower back toward symmetry and balance that the body demands by stretching and moving the tissue. Rolfing is designed to loosen the fascia, resulting in a freedom of muscle movement and the unlearning of bad patterns of muscle strain and misuse, resolving the source of the back pain. This release should then enable the back to properly align itself. When the back is properly aligned, back pain should recede.

For low back pain as well as disk herniation, Rolfing would focus on softening, releasing, and lengthening the muscle tissue and creating space between the intervertebral disks (most easily seen when Rolfing creates space between the pelvis and the ribs).

Some of the key muscles involved in Rolfing for back pain will possibly be the muscles involved in hip flexion and the connective tissue which surrounds them as well as the various lower back muscles and the strong ligaments that hold the sacrum in place (the sacrum is the triangular bone at the base of your spine which you might know as the tailbone)

Rolfing’s great strength is that it is non-invasive, and hence while undergoing Rolfing you will be able to continue with daily life and even sports, while simultaneously treating and relaxing your back muscles, which will eventually allow you a greater range of movement and increase your flexibility.

Dr Ronald Tarrel. D.O., a neurologist at the Noran Neurological Clinic in Minneapolis, says, “I refer my patients who may be surgical candidates, or others that have had surgery for neck and back injuries, to Rolfing Universally, I have had an 80-85% success rate with these referrals One key reason I refer is that Rolfing offers relief to patients who think their left-over pain is due to failed surgery. They may be so tightly bound after the surgery from the scarred tissue that their soft tissue needs to be released. Rolfing can help greatly with this.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

http://altmd.com/Articles/Rolfing-Structural-Integration-for-Back-Pain

http://www.rolfing.com.sg/Back-Pain.html

http://www.rolfing-london.co.uk/backpain.htm