I very much like to field questions from patients about our medicine. I'm fascinated by it and I like to talk about it and even try and teach it. But some patients are really curious and want to delve deeper into it. As you can imagine from a discipline that is over five thousand years old, it can be rather complicated. It's complicated when you get into the details, but really not so bad to learn the basics of. It is vast and simple at the same time, as are many things that are wise. There is a lot of info on the internet to get you started, but if you really want to go deep there are a couple of books that we usually recommend. The first is the Web That Has No Weaver. This book would be good for the technical or scientifically minded person. The other is Between Heaven and Earth which takes things more from a Five Element point of view, which some people like better. Both are available on Amazon and I suggest you read some reviews before you decide which is right for you. Another book that explains Chinese medicine in more western terms is the Spark in the Machine. If you really want to go into the deep end pick up a copy of the Yellow Emperor's Classic which dives deep into the philosophy of Chinese medicine.
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The Chinese herbal cornucopia is vast, some say more than 3000 commonly used herbs. The way these herbs combine into formulas is a science unto itself. There are some herbs that do pretty well on their own but most do better when combined with other herbs. There are many great formulations, some of which are over a thousand years old, that have stood the test of time as to their effectiveness. The way that we decide on a formula to prescribe is that we first need to have a diagnosis. Diagnosis in our medicine works a bit differently than a Western diagnosis. In Chinese medicine we look for patterns of illness in the body, usually the root of the condition of disease. There are some common patterns of illness that are found in many disease such as fibromyalgia. So depending on the pattern than led to the condition called fibromyalgia in a patient, there might be several ways to treat it herbally. But I find that patients often do well on the single herb dang gui (Chinese angelica root). Some formulas that are often used are classics such as liu wei di huang wan or the slight modification zhi bai di huang wan. If the patient is willing to take powdered herbs (which are made into a strong tea) we can mix and match formulas and single herbs to treat the patients individual condition more accurately.
From my experience (15 years of treating back pain), it is often hard to pin down what exactly is the cause of back pain. What I mean is that not always but often the tests done such as MRIs don't always give us the whole picture. Many people have MRIs which show multiple bulging disks and they have no pain. Many MRIs show nothing wrong at all but the pain is there. Many get surgery based on these finding and the pain is no better - or changed - or worse. This all shows that the back is very complicated, and it is just one part of the whole body which of course also plays a part. A good reason to try acupuncture (and cupping because I rarely do acupuncture for back pain without some cupping), is that we do not have to know the exact cause of the issue. We treat the blockages that cause the pain. Can this fix the problem? Yes. Because the back is very complicated and is part of the very complicated body and mind, healing is almost always a mysterious thing. The wisdom of acupuncture is that is somehow stimulates the body to figure it out. Removing the blockages that cause pain can be the start of real healing.
I use auricular or ear acupuncture often in my practice. I do this because I believe that it enhances the effects of the treatment. In Chinese medicine the ear is called a micro-system. A micro-system is any distinct part of the body that you can use to treat the entire body. So there are points that effect all other parts of the body in the ear. So instead of just doing body points to treat say the low back, I will use ear points that correspond to the low back to strengthen the treatment. I just find it more effective. The ear is often used on its own to treat addiction (a set of points called the NADA protocol). These 5 ear points are used in addiction clinics world-wide. Some people have gotten permanent or semi-permanent staples in the ear on points to treat things such as migraines and to help with weight loss. There are other micro-systems in use such as the hand (used extensively in Korea) and of course the foot is the micro-system used in reflexology (also invented by the Chinese).
This has nothing directly to do with Chinese medicine or acupuncture, just an interesting finding. We all know that walking is good for us and will generally help us live longer. A new study finds that people who walk fast have an even greater benefit to their longevity. The decrease in mortality for regular walkers was a 20 percent reduction in overall mortality, and the decrease for those who moved at a faster pace was 24 percent. This does go along with what I have been saying in previous blogs, that we need to keep moving. Not all the time, but probably more of the time. Many of us will sit when we get the chance. But many studies have shown that sitting adversely effects our health to the point that we will not live as long if we sit too much. As far as why faster walkers receive more benefit, the study did not speculate. I imagine it's just that getting the 'ol ticker going a bit faster is a good thing now and then, or quite often really. Or maybe its just that those who walk faster get hit less by falling pianos. In any case: keep moving.
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AuthorMonte Jackson, owner Acupuncture Center of Richmond Archives
March 2024
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