Pain in the...Acupuncture's unique understanding of Pain, and how to resolve it!

PAIN- As an Acupuncturist I see a lot of it. Often, it’s the person that’s tried everything and now as a last ditch effort is turning to Acupuncture. While some might shake their heads, and say it’s hopeless, Acupuncture is not only a highly effective modality for pain treatment, it also offers a unique understanding of the etiology of pain. This in itself can bring both relief and greater understanding.

The truth is, the experience of pain differs greatly from person to person. Pain is not only physical, but also emotional and psychological. Often, people with a history of complex trauma have created highly evolved coping mechanisms to cover up their suffering. They might be dealing with excruciating pain, but outwardly seem to function just fine. These “coping strategies” helped get people through very difficult events. However, once the traumatic events have passed, these coping strategies are no longer supportive for people’s well being, and need to be re-examined in order to bring about healing and freedom from pain.

We can also consider how the context of pain changes our experience of it. For instance, the intense pain of childbirth is also accompanied by feel good hormones like oxytocin and endorphins, and usually the joy of welcoming a new life into the world. In contrast, the pain of breaking a leg in a hit and run accident is accompanied by shock, isolation, distress, and fight or flight hormones like epinephrine and norepinephrine. Just FYI, studies show that people who have given birth and fractured a femur (not at the same time) rank the femur fracture as more painful than childbirth.

Truly, pain is a complex experience.

Fortunately, Taoist medicine offers a simple and profound understanding of pain which is universal, no matter what the cause or circumstance.

“If there is free flow, there is no pain. If there is pain, there is no free flow”

Another way to understand this is to say, where there is pain there is blockage. When there is no blockage, there is no pain. In other words, blockage is what causes pain, by impeding circulation and the free flow of blood and other vital substances in the body. A blockage could be physical or structural, such as damage to a joint. The damage then blocks the flow of blood and oxygen through the area, causing contstriction and pain. Or, take for example, a person with gallstones. The agonizing pain of a gall bladder “attack” ocurrs when these stones block the proper release of bile from the gallbladder.

Blockages could also be emotional, and this is just as much a valid cause of physical pain. Different emotions tend to act differently on the bodies’ qi, or energy flow. For example, fear descends the qi- hence involuntary urination and weak knees under extreme fear. Anger tends to heat the qi and make it rise, causing headaches. Emotions can and do cause physical pain in the body. For example, a person experiences severe anxiety accompanied by chest pain and heart palpitations. They go to the ER, only to find nothing is “wrong”. But a Taoist perspective would tell us that anxiety, an emotion associated with the heart and chest area, is blocking the free flow of qi, causing chest pain and impeding the proper movement of the heart. A few well placed needles on points like Heart 5 and Pericardium 6 can do wonders here, by increasing blood flow and circulation to the chest, relaxing the heart muscle, and releasing the blockage that is causing pain.

So, we can use Acupuncture to treat pain by opening these blockages, whatever level the blockage originates: body, mind, or spirit. In fact, as of 2017, the CDC now recommends Acupuncture as the #1 treatment for pain. If the pain is longstanding and deeply entrenched, then it may take ongoing treatment to retrain the body out of the pattern of pain. Like relearning or changing a bad habit, we need to retrain the body back into its optimal energy flow.

Our natural state is actually one of ease and harmony! The body knows this, but sometimes needs help remembering. Often, the “blockages” we encounter in life- injury, trauma, sorrows, and betrayals leave us feeling as though we don’t have a choice. In response, we stay stuck in pain and blockage. Acupuncture can help us choose something different, a new way of relating to ourselves, our pain, and the way we may have allowed it to block us in life. As people “unchoose” these blockages and create more free flow, they feel lighter, more at ease, more here in the present. Over time, this can become real, lasting relief.