The Clinical Picture from the Chinese Medicine (TCM) Point of View

Back Ailments

Diagnosis and Therapy

From the Bones and Joints to the Muscular System

Abnormal positions and "wearing" of bones and joints cannot be sufficiently explained only by mechanical models. They may be caused or intensified by defective muscle tone. Such states also embody the psychic state. The psyche is linked to the skeleton through the muscles. Everyone has heard about pain in the small of the back that occurs under emotional stress, tension in the neck when under pressure to perform, etc. This results in one pole, the psychomotor movements. Under unfavourable conditions this can lead to dystonia, a negative next-to-each-other of over-tense and relaxed areas of the muscular system. Efforts to treat are focused on eutony, a balanced state of muscle tension that gives a feeling of well-being. Acupuncture can help here as well as numerous other conducive physical therapeutic procedures. At the Klinik am Steigerwald, not only acupuncture and moxibustion (heating of points with moxa) are used but also the following procedures: shiatsu, Tuina massage, psychotonic after Glaser, cranio-sacral therapy, foot reflex zone massage and many others.
The other pole is muscle metabolism. Here the psychic factor is no longer seen, only the fixed, incorrect position - the hard, tensed muscle, myogelosis - dominates the field. Disturbances in circulation and the accumulation of metabolic waste products occur in addition. Inflammation begins its attack and the result is pain and, in turn, tenseness. The administration of pain killers and inflammation blockers, injections, etc. promise alleviation but are misleading because calming inflammation relieves the pain but does not usually solve the problem.

Accumulation of Metabolic Waste Products: Fluids

If you ask how joints wear out or why invertebral disk capsules are prone to bursting, you also need to take the state of tissue into consideration. The state of tissue is highly dependent on circulation and the quality of the "fluids", i.e. the blood, lymph, and the intercellular environment. Tissue can only maintain its strength, elasticity and adaptability if the muscles and connective tissues are well supplied and the waste products disposed of properly. The wonderful effect of fasting on back ailments shows how important this dimension is. Also helpful, especially in an acute case, are external procedures that are conducive to treatment such as cupping or the application of leeches.
This is the point where intervention with Chinese medicinal formulations begins. Backaches in the lumbar region are treated by treating the abdomen, not the back. Regulation of intestinal functions is the key to the therapy. In the viewpoint of Chinese medicine, pain in the pelvic region and legs, paralgesia or a feeling of heaviness result from excretory processes that have not been properly concluded. The same applies to symptoms in the head and neck. The concept finds massive confirmation through the success rate in treating hormone dependent back ailments in women. Re-regulation of hormone rhythms can work wonders for back ailments. Hormone preparations are counter-indicated.

Inflammation: Heteropathy

Inflammation must also be seen in a much wider horizon. Experience has shown that a cold and lumbago or a cough and inflammation of a joint occur in a time relationship. A diagnostician can gain important information from such a relationship by means of the approximately two thousand year old concept of heteropathy. Its key statement is that inflammatory processes that have not healed remain in the body as a hidden drive and overlie the control processes of our immune system. A chronically simmering cold that has not gone away, for example, can cause and uphold inflammatory processes in the lumbar vertebra area. To proceed according to the concept of heteropathy requires patient therapeutic work with the aid of Chinese medicinal therapy. Step for step, the seat of inflammation must be found and the infection that has not healed located and brought back to life. The goal of therapy has been achieved when the pain in the small of the back completely disappears after a strong, productive cold.
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