The inspiration for this post came from a BBC survey that dominated the headlines recently. The survey found that one out of four people (25%) suffers from chronic pain (described as pain lasting more than three months). Some of the sufferers described living with the condition as “intolerable” and “debilitating”.

Although pain has to be present for three months to enter this category of chronic pain, we can safely assume that in the majority of cases it is much longer – months, years or even a lifetime.

This was always a mystery for me. From an evolutionary point of view, what purpose does it serve? Acute pain makes perfect evolutionary sense: we need to be aware that something is wrong so we can do something about it to remedy the situation. The pain acts as an alarm in order to turn our attention towards the problem. In the case of chronic pain, this constant reminder of a problem becomes useless as, surely, if we could have done something to remedy the problem then it would have been done fairly immediately. Making evolutionary sense or not, it’s here to stay and is, as the survey showed, incredibly common and, as the BBC investigation explained, very poorly treated by modern medicine.

In this post I will try and explain how Chinese medicine sees and treats chronic pain and how it differs from what is offered at the moment on the NHS.

Chronic pain causes

Chronic pain can arise from different systems of the body, but it most commonly comes from our musculoskeletal system. Here we are paying the price from our ancestors becoming curious and gradually becoming upright, two-legged creatures – whilst our bodies have been designed through many thousands of years to use all four limbs for walking, just like other apes still do. Add to that our modern way of life where we sit for hours on an office chair, or repeat the same action over and over again all day, and it’s small wonder that our muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons start to suffer at a certain stage resulting in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Chronic pain can originate from other body systems like the gastrointestinal system, the gynaecological system, or nerve system. According to Chinese medicine (CM), the principle cause of pain in all of these is more or less the same.

Chinese Medicine treatments for chronic pain

According to CM (Chinese Medicine), the feeling of pain always arises from problems in the flow of the Qi. Qi is the energy that flows through our body: propelling, fuelling and maintaining all living work. It is also propelling and maintaining the flow of the blood around our body. If there is a blockage (partial or complete) in the flow of Qi in our body, then the result is pain.

When a patient who is suffering from pain comes to a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) clinic then the Practitioner’s main aim will be to remove the blockage to allow the smooth flow of Qi to resume. When this has been achieved the pain will disappear. Restoring the smooth flow of Qi is being done brilliantly by Acupuncture. That is what the needles do and that is the reason why Acupuncture is so effective in treating most types of pain, including chronic pain. Modern research into the way that Acupuncture works (trying to explain it in modern scientific terms, at least) found that Acupuncture causes relaxation of the muscles, increases blood supply and a rush of materials that aid tissue healing toward the injured area. These findings can partially explain the effectiveness of Acupuncture in treating chronic pain. Whether you feel more comfortable with the traditional explanation to the work of the Acupuncture needles or with the modern scientific one, the facts stay the same: Acupuncture treatment is very effective in treating pain.

Importantly, maintaining the smooth flow of Qi around the body is just half of the job. A good Acupuncture Practitioner will look to find the reason for the disturbance in the flow and treat that as well. There is always a reason for a Qi flow problem which causes the pain. Failing to isolate this reason means that the relief in pain will be short-lived.

So, what can cause these blockages? There are a few common patterns:

  1. Dampness: dampness refers to a subtle accumulation of fluids, most commonly in the joints. The symptoms will usually be dull pain and stiffness in the affected area. Swelling is common. The pain will tend to feel worse when it is humid or a damp day. Stiffness often worsens in the mornings. Dampness, if present for a time, tends to get hot or cold. In damp cold the joint will often feel cold, and in damp heat the joint will feel hot to touch and will often turn red. A typical example for damp heat is acute gout. With the presence of dampness blocking the circulation of Qi and blood, resulting in pain, the TCM Practitioner will use Acupuncture points and herbal medicines to dry the dampness and increase the flow of Qi and blood in the joint.
  2. Cold: In this case the painful area will stay cold and won’t be able to warm-up to the normal level of the body temperature. Pain from cold tends to be localized and severe, and it gets worse at nights. It also normally tends to react favourably to the application of heat but tends to worsen if exposed to cold. In this case the Practitioner will use Acupuncture and/or herbal medicine which will warm the affected area to allow the return of the normal flow of blood and Qi.
  3. Heat: When heat-type injury is present, the pain tends to be of a burning nature and so tends to react favourably to an application of cold (such as an ice pack). A common example is an acute inflammation of a tendon or a ligament. In this case a wise Acupuncturist will use Acupuncture points and/or herbal medicine that reduces heat and inflammation to allow a free flow of Qi and blood to eliminate the pain.
  4. Blood Stagnation: Chronic pain from blood stagnation-type injury arises when the predominant problem is a blockage or restriction in the blood circulation. Typically, the pain will be localized and sharp/stabbing in nature. It will tend to worsen at nights and to be eased by movement. The most common blood stagnation-type chronic pain is pain following a traumatic injury. The treatment is, naturally, using herbs and Acupuncture points which strongly break blood stagnation and allow the free flow of blood and Qi.

Those are the main patterns of chronic pain according to TCM. An experienced Practitioner will also look to see what are the causes or the reasons for the presence of blood stagnation, damp, heat or cold in the patient’s body. This can be due to bad nutrition, environment, activity or something else. Attending to this will bring an improvement on an even deeper level.

A time for Traditional Chinese Medicine to shine

Through understanding the patterns of chronic pain in the human body, Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can achieve long-lasting relief of the pain in most cases. I think it’s time for mainstream medicine to begin paying more attention to it – not just for the human suffering factor, but also for the cost. Treating chronic pain (as well as other conditions, as a matter of fact) with TCM methods is significantly less costly than modern medicine methods, and it carries much less risk of side-effects and of long-term pathological consequences.

Best of Health
Dr Ilan Shahor