“Love means exposing yourself to the pain of being hurt, deeply hurt by someone you trust…”

 “Why love if losing hurts so much? I have no answer anymore; only the life I have lived. The pain now is part of the happiness then…” – Anthony Hopkins

 “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love…” – Mother Teresa

 “Mind over body…”

           We grew up with these myths about pain in our life.

           Do we really know what pain is and why we need to feel pain?

           A couple of months before my operation, a friend of mine, out from the thin air, aroused my curiosity to find out and understand more on the subject of pain.  

           I thought I have gone through all kind of pains in all my life, but little that I knew that, my experiences of pain did not really equate to a better understanding of the subject.

           I didn’t know pain is just a ‘message’ or a communication signal from our body to alert our brain that some attention may be needed in certain part of our body. It really revolutionized my aged old understanding of the pain as I held dearly for the last 40 years. It is true that we are never too old to learn…

           Why we need to know the truth on the subject of Pain. “If we want to win the war we must know our enemy well” said Sun Zi; hence if we want to overcome our pain, we must understand pain well.

           Let me have the liberty here to summarize some of the writings and articles from the internet on the subject of Pain.

           I will separate the subject into two sections for easy understanding. That is the Western Medicine School of thought and the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) School of thought.

 

Western Medicine

           In the western medicine world, Pain is an uncomfortable feeling that tells us something may be wrong in our body. Pain is our body’s way of sending a warning to our brain. Our spinal cord and nerves provide the pathway for messages to travel to and from our brain and the other parts of our body.

The mechanic of pain…

             The receptor nerve cells, in and beneath our skin, sense heat, cold, light, touch, pressure, and pain. We have thousands of these receptor cells, most sense pain and fewest senses cold. When there is an injury to our body – for example, surgery – these tiny cells send messages along our nerves into our spinal cord and then up to our brain. Pain medicine blocks these messages or reduces their effect on our brain.

          Sometimes pain may be just a nuisance, like a mild headache. At other times, such as after an operation, pain that doesn’t go away – even after we have taken the pain medicine – may be a signal that there is a problem. If we have an operation, our nurses and doctors will ask us about our pain because they want us to be comfortable, but also because they want to know if something is wrong.

           If our pain messaging systems break down, constant or chronic pain messages may be sent even after the original cause of the pain is fully healed. There are a number of Pain treatment programs in the market that use the mind–body interventions to help interrupt these pain messages and re-establish healthy communication along the nerve paths to the brain.

We DO have control over our pain…

            Over the past few decades, a wealth of research has confirmed that mind–body therapies, either alone or with other treatments, may help cure various types of pain and prevent pain recurrence. Techniques that were once considered complementary or alternative, such as, behavioral therapy, biofeedback, cognitive therapy, guided/visual imagery, hypnosis, meditation, and relaxation therapy have now become main stream.

           Studies have demonstrated the usefulness of various mind–body interventions in the management of many types of pain, such as migraine or tension-type headaches, fibromyalgia, acute sciatica, and several other conditions for which no specific cause has been found.

 Our chronic pain – what’s mixing up the messages?

          Feelings of anxiety, tension, anger, or depression could cause a disconnection between our mind and body. When our brain is frequently forced to respond to such emotions, it essentially rewires itself to keep up with the barrage of negative stimuli. As a result, our brain may send erroneous pain messages to our body. With mind–body intervention, the first step is to examine our behaviors and environment with a doctor or therapist to identify factors that may be causing the pain reaction. The next step is to develop more productive ways to handle the stressors that we face every day so that we have more control over our physiological response to these emotions. Depending on our condition, this process may take only a few weeks or may become a regular part of our health routine.

           Be sure to tell our doctors and nurses when we have pain. They can help us to prevent or control pain so we can get well faster and improve our results after surgery.

 Another thought…

            Pain is a heightened awareness, a focusing of our mind.  There is a line of thought that the pain is the outer effect of something happening at an inner unconscious level. However, because it is an aspect of our mind it is subject to change.  

          The present medical model uses chemicals to extinguish the nerve signal and although there are new chemicals which can be very specific in controlling pain, generally speaking, it does not address the cause.  

         What often happens is that the medicine reduces the inflammation or pain and the body heals on its own. If this is a one time affair that might work but where we have repeated or constant pain we would be better served to find the root cause. If we do not, we create a dependent state where we must use the chemicals to keep putting out the fires so to speak.  This is why many treatments dealing only with the physical body are often temporary and the condition or a similar one returns. We must address the inner needs as well as the physical to truly cure a condition.

 

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

                Pain in TCM is due to the non-free flow of qi and/or blood. When the qi and blood flow freely, there is no pain. Therefore, it is essential to keep our qi and blood full and moving freely for optimal health and well being.

 Inhibition of qi and blood flow…  

           The flow of qi and blood can become inhibited in any and every area of our body: the internal organs, the muscles, the joints, and the lower back etc.

           For example, when we overeat and have acute indigestion with the accompanying sensations of abdominal fullness, bloating, and distention, these symptoms are due to the stagnation of stomach qi. In this case, the stomach qi cannot move freely through the excessive amount of food and drink in the stomach.

           Likewise, when we bruise ourselves and blood escapes from the blood vessels and then pools up, we will experience a mild form of blood stagnation.

           In both of these cases the stagnation is not serious. We feel better within a short time and are free of symptoms when the qi and blood resume their proper functioning and are flowing freely.

 Different between qi stagnation and blood stasis…   

           According to TCM, the sensations of pain due to qi stagnation or blood stasis are different.

      Qi stagnation causes a feeling of distention or soreness that fluctuates in intensity and location. Qi stagnation pain often occurs with strong emotional changes. Blood stasis, on the other hand, is characterized by painful swelling or stabbing, sharp pain at a specific, fixed location.

 Insufficiency of qi, blood, or both…

           It is also possible for the qi and blood flow to become inhibited because of insufficiency of the qi, blood, or both. In this case, the pain is not severe but is enduring. If due to qi and blood insufficiency, the pain is worse after rest and better after light use. This is because during rest or immobilization there is insufficient qi and blood to keep the qi and blood moving. Movement itself helps to pump the qi and blood through the area mobilized. Therefore, movement tends to make this type of pain better.

Restore balance…  

         The basic principle of treatment in Chinese medicine is to restore balance. Therefore, the Nei Jing (Inner Classic) says that if a disease is due to too much, it should be drained; if due to too little, it should be supplemented; if due to heat, it should be cooled; if due to cold, it should be warmed; if due to dryness, it should be moistened; and if due to dampness, it should be dried.

 The Causes of Pain

           In Chinese medicine, there are three broad categories of causes of pain. These are referred to as external causes, internal causes, and independent causes.

        External causes refer to invasion by the six environmental excesses; while internal causes refer to damage by the seven passions or emotions. In terms of pain, the so-called independent causes are traumatic injury, dietary imbalance, insufficient exercise, over-taxation, undisciplined sex, and drug abuse.

        1.  External Causes of Pain

       According to Chinese medicine, our qi and blood flow can be affected by invasion of energies from the external environment. These energies are wind, cold, dampness, heat, dryness, and summer heat. As mentioned above, one of the five functions of qi is to protect the body from invasion by these environmental energies.

        If the defensive qi is weak, environmental energy(s) can invade the body, settling into the channels, and block the flow of qi and blood in those channels. Such invasion by external energies can only occur if the defensive qi is deficient.

       When these energies invade the upper body, we typically come down with a cold or flu. But when they invade the low back, we may get acute low back pain.

         Each Environmental Energy has a unique set of signs, symptoms, and pain sensations that appear when they lodge in the body and cause acute low back pain. Four of the six environmental energies may cause or be involved in external invasion low back pain.

           a. Wind

        Wind is usually the primary environmental energy to invade the body. Wind refers to any unseen pathogenic factor invading the body from outside. However, it also describes the pattern of the complaint it creates. In another word, pain due to wind comes and goes. It moves around the body just as the wind moves about the earth, affecting one joint and then another. Wind blocks the qi, hence the pain is achy. 

         b.  Cold

      When cold settles into the channels, the pain tends to be in a fixed location and is sharp and severe. Cold congeals the flow of blood, thus resulting in blood stasis. Pain due to cold gets worse with cold and feels better with warmth. 

        c.  Dampness

      Dampness has a fixed nature like cold. However, the pain due to dampness is a heavy, sore type of pain. It is never sharp or acute. Unlike low back pain due to wind and cold, which come on quickly, dampness tends to develop slowly and have a more chronic nature. 

     When dampness is lodged in the channels, changes in the weather and especially low pressure can often make the pain worse. Dampness can also involve swelling which is a sign of too much fluid accumulation. 

          Arthritis pain…

      Arthritis pain due to the invasion of environmental energies most commonly involves the combination of wind, cold, and dampness or occasionally the combination of wind, dampness, and heat.

      As stated previously, these energies can only invade the body if the defensive qi is weak. If there is no weakness in the kidneys or liver, then the invasion will be short-lived and the person will have an acute case of arthritis pain. However, if the kidneys and liver are weak, then the invading energies can settle into the arthritis causing chronic arthritis pain. 

         2.  Internal Causes of Pain

      In TCM, internal causes of pain refer specifically and only to damage by our seven passions or emotions.

 Liver depression…

        Liver depression due to stress and frustration may cause rib-side distention pain, headache, migraine, dysmenorrheal, sciatica and sacroiliac pain due to the liver qi’s relationship with the gallbladder channel, which traverses this area. However, once back pain has been caused, emotional unease may exacerbate and prolong it.

       Qi stagnation due to liver depression will add to or aggravate any condition in the body where the free and smooth flow of the qi and blood has been affected.

  Emotional damage may lead to invasion by external environment energies…

      It is also possible for emotional damage to create the environment in which either trauma or invasion by external environmental energies and resulted in pain.

      For instance, constant fear may damage the kidneys leaving the low back area weak. Thus the person may injure their back by a seemingly harmless movement. Or constant worry may damage the spleen. Since the spleen transforms the blood, spleen deficiency may result in blood insufficiency. Hence the sinews may not be nourished and may be chronically tense and tight. Or the muscles may not have sufficient qi, i.e., and strength, to do their job without injury. 

         3. Independent Causes of Pain

      This group of disease causing agents may seem inappropriately named to Westerners. After all, isn’t diet something we take in from the outside and isn’t trauma something that occurs to us from the outside? The fact that diet, exercise, over-taxation, trauma, and poisoning are all considered independent causes, hence it points up the fact that, as a system, Chinese medicine has its own internal logic which has nothing to do with modern Western medicine or with our ordinary use of English words. 

         a. Traumatic Injury 

     The first of these independent causes of pain is traumatic injury. Traumatic injury to the muscle and joint is a major health problem. Trauma results in damage and even severance of the channels and network vessels. This allows the blood to flow outside its vessels and pool. Because the qi follows the blood, it also pools. This pooling of non-free flowing qi and blood results in heat, swelling, redness, and pain. The more serious the trauma is, the more serious the stagnation of qi and blood will be. 

     Trauma to the muscle and joint ranges from mild to severe. Any or all the tissues comprising the low back may be involved. The least serious and easiest to heal injuries are to the muscles and tendons. The more serious injuries involve certain ligaments, the vertebral body and joints, and the disc. The most serious problem is trauma to the spinal cord. 

     In TCM, it is important to identify which tissues have been injured. There is specific medicine, which heal specific tissues. For instance, one would use different herbs to treat muscle trauma from those used to treat trauma to the vertebral body. However, the guiding principle for all traumatic injuries is to get the qi and blood flowing freely as soon as possible. 

     It is essential to get the qi and blood moving for two reasons. First, when the qi and blood flow, there is less or no pain. Secondly, the longer the qi and blood stagnate, the more complicated the recovery becomes. 

     When the qi and blood stagnate in the pain area, the defensive qi cannot operate effectively. When the defensive qi is not operating at full strength, wind, cold, and dampness can easily invade. 

     If the qi and blood stagnation continues and wind, cold, and dampness have settled into the muscle and joint the kidneys and liver will eventually be affected and begin to weaken. When the kidneys and liver weaken, the low back becomes weaker because these organs are the mainstays of its strength. As this scenario progresses, the low back becomes even more susceptible to further invasions of wind, cold, and dampness. This is how chronic low back pain develops from trauma injury. 

          b. Poor Diet 

     The spleen is the organ in charge of digestion. It is the spleen qi, which transforms and transports the food and drink ingested. 

     If, through overeating sweets and fatty foods, raw, chilled foods, and drinking excessive chilled beverages with meals, the spleen is damaged, it may fail to transform and transport liquids and these may accumulate to become internally generated dampness. 

     Because dampness is yin, it tends to percolate downward in the body to lodge in the lower half of the body, including the low back. There it obstructs and hinders the flow of qi and blood. Commonly, such internally generated dampness transforms into heat and thus gives rise to damp heat mutually stagnating with the qi and blood. 

     According to a set of theories developed in China around the time of Genghis Khan, dampness percolating downward from the spleen can damage both the liver and the kidneys, and we have seen above how important the liver and kidneys are to the health of the low back. 

     Spleen deficiency with internal dampness also results in the creation of adipose tissue or fat. 

     Fat in TCM is nothing more than accumulated dampness. This dampness not only hinders the flow of qi and blood but also puts more strain on the restraining, lifting, and moving functions of the spleen qi. 

     As the spleen becomes weak, the muscles and flesh, which are the level of tissue corresponding to the spleen, lose their tone and eventually their function. 

     In addition, because the spleen is the root of qi and blood production, if the spleen becomes damaged due to faulty diet, this may lead to qi and blood deficiency as well. 

            c. Rest & Activity 

     Rest (stillness) and activity (stirring), are a yin/ yang complementary pair in Chinese medicine. 

     In TCM, it is believed that too much rest damages the spleen, and we have seen above that a weak spleen may lead to muscular weakness and the generation of dampness, both of which may cause or be involved with low back pain. 

     On the other hand, regular exercise leads to improved digestion, and good digestion leads to the creation of the acquired essence, the essence that bolsters the prenatal essence stored in the kidneys. Therefore, regular, moderate exercise indirectly helps generate essence, while lack of exercise does not. 

     Conversely, excessive exercise or any excessive activity, be it physical or mental/emotional, may eventually damage the kidneys. In particular, it is said in Chinese medicine that lifting objects, which are beyond one’s strength, damages the kidneys. 

         d. Excessive Sex    

     We have seen above that the kidney essence is associated with reproduction. In men, the seminal fluid is seen as the physical manifestation of essence and is, in fact, called jing or essence in Chinese. 

     In addition, sexual desire is a function and manifestation of kidney yang, while sexual fluids, such as seminal fluid in men, are a manifestation of kidney yin. 

     In Chinese medicine, it is believed that a healthy, moderate amount of sex helps free the flow of qi and relieves pent-up emotions. On the other hand, excessive sex can quickly deplete the qi and blood and particularly kidney essence. 

     Since essence declines with age, concern over too much sex causing low back pain mostly affects those over 45. However, depending upon constitutional predisposition or chronic disease, one may have to be cautious about this factor even earlier. 

         e. Drug Abuse 

     Many, if not most, of the drugs, which people abuse, are stimulants. According to Chinese medicine, substances like cocaine, amphetamines, marijuana, LSD, and even caffeine and nicotine use up large amounts of qi in their production of a “high,” “buzz,” or “rush”. We say that they give us energy, but that energy has to come from someplace. Where that energy comes from is the kidneys, our deepest repository of essence and qi. These drugs use this energy and eventually use it up. This then can cause signs and symptoms of kidney deficiency and essence insufficiency accompanied by low back pain. 

          f. Age 

     Age is not considered one of the traditional disease causes in Chinese medicine. However, after 35 years of age, our production of essence from the food we eat, liquids that we drink, and air that we breathe decreases. This means that after this age, we are producing less of the acquired essence and are consequently using more inherited essence. 

     Thus it is not uncommon to encounter chronic low back pain as a symptom of aging. In particular, spinal problems such as degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, chronic lumbago, vertebral fractures, chronic lumbar strain, spinal spurs, etc. are often kidney-related problems associated with aging. Therefore, the TCM treatment of these spinal problems is directed, in part, at strengthening the kidneys. 

        g. Combined Causes 

     Weakness or other problems in the internal organs that lead to low back pain tend to develop slowly. However, it is possible and, in fact, common to have acute low back pain in conjunction with a weakness of an internal organ. 

     For example, a person with a kidney weakness can also have an invasion of wind, cold, and/or dampness in the low back. Hence it is common to find that in any given patient with low back pain, there is a combination of causes at work, some internal, some external, and some, according to the terminology of Chinese medicine, due to neither internal nor external causes. 

Summary…         

     In describing the causes of pain, Chinese medicine starts from the simple premise that there is no pain if the qi and blood are flowing freely without inhibition. 

     It then goes on to describe a number of specific causes and contributors to pain, all of which cause some detriment and damage to the free flow of qi and blood in the area of the pain. 

     These range from physical trauma and diet to emotional stress and overexertion. Thus the theory of TCM about the cause of pain is a multifaceted one which takes into account all aspects of a person’s life physical, mental, emotional, and even sexual. 

     This again underscores the holistic vision of Chinese medicine, which cannot reduce a person’s pain to a single piece of bone, muscle, or connective tissue. 

     In TCM, treatment is given on the basis of the patient’s pattern and not simply on the basis of their named disease. 

     A TCM pattern takes into account all the signs and symptoms of the disease plus all the patient’s other, seemingly unrelated signs and symptoms and the Chinese description of the cause of their condition. Therefore, all the person’s symptoms are noteworthy, not just the one’s that are specific to their major complaint. In fact, the TCM practitioner gathers so much information that the patient may not see the relevance of it all. And certainly the TCM practitioner takes much more time to ask questions about all aspects of the person’s life than the typical Western M.D. 

     It is because TCM treatments are based upon identifying the individuals’ unique pattern, hence Chinese medicine causes no side effects or other medically induced problems when properly prescribed. Side effects are themselves symptoms of imbalance, and Chinese medicine seeks to bring the entire person back into a pattern of balance and good health.