Arthritis is chronic inflammation of the joints that affects an estimated 70 million Americans. Its symptoms include pain, swelling, limited range of motion, redness, and warmth around the joints.  There are many different kinds of arthritis, but in general, osteoarthritis is caused by the breakdown of cartilage from aging and wear and tear on your joints.  Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition that affects the lining of the joints, which can cause bone erosion and joint deformity.

In Chinese medicine, arthritis is considered a Bi (pronounced bee) syndrome, which just means that a blockage of energy or blood in your energetic pathways is causing your pain.  The blockage is caused by external pathogens (or causes of illness) that act a little bit like bad weather in your body.  They can include wind, cold, dampness, or heat.  These pathogens can affect your bones, muscles, tendons, but in arthritis, they affect your joints.

Bi syndromes tend to occur because you’re depleted in some way, either from poor diet, fatigue, bad digestion, working too hard, or some other funkiness.  When you’re run down or depleted, your body’s protective bubble that fights off pathogens is also depleted.   This allows those bad weather pathogens to enter and cause all kinds of trouble.

You can tell what kind of pathogen is causing your arthritis by the nature of your pain.  In general:

• Arthritis caused by a wind pathogen moves around from joint to joint.
• Cold pain tends to be pretty severe, is worse in cold weather, and your joints may actually feel cooler to the touch than the rest of your body.
• Dampness is characterized by fixed pain that feels achy and heavy and can be accompanied by numbness and/or swelling.
• Red, swollen, warm, and painful joints are associated with heat.  You may feel feverish when you have a heat pathogen, and your pain tends to flare up in the warm weather.

To make your life even more miserable, more than one pathogen at a time can cause your joint pain. For example, you may have arthritis that is caused by a combination of wind, cold, and damp.  In that case, you may have joint pain that moves around, feels heavy, is severely achy, and is worse when the weather is damp and cold. 

Several research studies have indicated that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for arthritis pain.  If you seek out an acupuncturist or practitioner of Chinese medicine for your arthritis, they may incorporate several different healing tools into their treatment.  A practitioner would generally begin with acupuncture, choosing points near the affected areas, as well as points to deal with the pathogens that are causing your pain.  You acupuncturist may also needle some ear acupuncture points that correspond to the areas in which you’re having pain. 

There are a number of Chinese herbal formulas that are helpful in treating arthritis pain.  If your acupuncturist prescribes herbs, he or she would choose a formula based on the nature of your pain.  For example if your arthritis is caused by damp and heat, you would need herbs that clear the heat and drain or dry the dampness.

Other therapies might include applying heat, food therapy, and some tweaks in your lifestyle.  Some things that you can do yourself include:

• Get moving.  You don’t have to kill the world, but movement helps loosen things up, and it can help move energy and blood in your pathways. 
• Heat it up or cool it off.  If your arthritis is worse in the cold weather or feels cold to the touch, apply some heat.  If it’s hot, cool it off, but don’t overdo the ice, because too much can make your joints stiffen up.
• Get enough rest.  Remember, Bi syndromes tend to be the result of your body being depleted in some way.  You heal and rejuvenate when you rest.  This includes getting enough sleep every night.
• Jettison the stress. I know you’ve heard this a million times, but really, stress makes everything worse.
• Avoid activities that aggravate your pain.  Um…this seems pretty obvious—if it hurts, cut it out.  I’m mostly talking to you runners with arthritic knees.
• Eat to ease inflammation.  Make sure you get enough of the right kinds of fats—Omega 3’s, which help clear inflammation from your body.  Good foods include cold water fish, like salmon, mackerel, and herring, as well as plant-based fats, like flax seed (oil), walnuts and nuts in general, seeds, and avocados. 

Much of Chinese medicine is based on the idea that we humans are part of the natural world, and as such, we’re greatly affected by our environment. Seasonal changes and extreme weather can by physically stressful and wreak havoc with our health. Therefore, when it’s dry outside we get dry conditions, such as a scratchy sore throat, dehydration, and dry skin.  When it’s cold and damp, achy joints and phlegm conditions flare.  Windy weather can bring on colds, facial pain, and earaches.

In Chinese medicine there is actually a condition associated with hot summer weather, called Summerheat.  One word and capitalized—Summerheat.  It is caused from exposure to extreme heat and can make you feel seriously funky.

There are two kinds of Summerheat—the first looks a lot like heat stroke in conventional medicine.  It’s characterized by a high fever, heavy sweating, exhaustion, and dehydration. 

The second kind of Summerheat has a damp element to it. It usually occurs when it’s really humid out—the kind of weather when you feel like you’re covered with a layer of slime.  When it gets hot outside, you generally get thirsty from sweating and drink to keep hydrated.  However, drinking—or overdrinking—combined with the water in the air can cause Summerheat plus a waterlogged feeling, cleverly called Summerheat Damp.

I’ve seen patients with Summerheat Damp during the humidity of the past few weeks, and it isn’t pretty.  Symptoms include a generally blah feeling, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and fatigue.  It occurs primarily in people who spend a lot of time outdoors on those very hot, very sticky days of mid and late summer.

So, what to do for Summerheat?  Well, some of the things you would instinctively do are the best.  Slow down and cool off.  There are also some foods that are energetically cool and full of fluids that really help if you’re suffering from Summerheat.  Some suggestions:

• Boil Mung beans.  Cook the beans in water according to the directions on the package.  Use the liquid to make a broth—a little salt is not a bad thing in this case.  You could add a little rice or a few vegetables, but keep it light.
• Try watermelon.  It’s a great choice if you’re feeling hot and blah.  It really works!
• Eat summer produce that is cooling and moist, such as tomatoes, cucumber, Mung bean sprouts (the big ones that come in your Pad Thai), summer squash, broccoli, and apples.
• If your stomach is upset, eat lightly and give your digestion a break.  I like to make a congee (rice soup) when I’m under the weather.  It consists of one part rice to eight parts water, simmered slowly until the rice is tender.  Add seasoning and a small amount of protein, like chicken, egg, or tofu.
• Drink tea.  Green, chrysanthemum, peppermint, or chamomile are all cooling.  Use the hot weather to brew sun tea but putting some tea bags in a glass jar outside in the sun.  In a couple of hours your tea is brewed, and you can refrigerate it or drink it over ice.
• Acupuncture is always a great option, too.  Your practitioner will focus on clearing the heat, and if you have the damp type, they will also resolve the dampness and calm your digestion down.  There are also some really effective Chinese herbal formulas specifically designed for Summerheat.  So be cool and don’t let the hot weather get you down.

Ringing in your ears, called tinnitus, affects about 50 million Americans.  While some, like me, have mild or occasional ringing, others experience noise loud enough to interfere with their everyday activities, including sleep.

Tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom, and it can be temporary or permanent.  Ringing in your ears is basically a phantom noise—you’re hearing something that’s not there.  It is commonly accompanied by some hearing loss, and it can be the result of your brain overcompensating for that loss in hearing.

There are many causes of tinnitus, including head injuries, ear infections, certain diseases, and even a common cold.  However, hands down, the most common cause of tinnitus is loud noise.  Think about the last big rock concert you attended (U2, thank you!) and remember how your ears rang when you tried to get to sleep afterward.  Excessive noise exposure, whether chronic or a single loud shot or explosion, is enough to damage your hearing and cause tinnitus. 

There is no cure for tinnitus.  However, in some cases, dealing with the cause can alleviate the problem.

In Chinese medicine, there are a number of patterns of disharmony that can result in tinnitus.  The most common is a deficiency of your Kidney system.  This does not mean you have Kidney disease—your Chinese Kidney is a little bit like the foundation to your health.  Your Kidney is the source of your vital substances, including the nourishing coolant of Yin and the pilot light of Yang, as well as Essence.  Kidney Essence is a little like your genetics, body constitution, and mojo, all rolled into one.  When your Kidney gets depleted, a common symptom is ringing in your ears.

While most Chinese medical practitioners think of Kidney depletion first, tinnitus can be caused by other patterns.  If the noise in your ears sounds like loud claps or ocean waves, gets worse when you’re angry or frustrated, and you’re having signs of heat (feeling hot, thirsty, restless, irritability, constipation, insomnia, dry mouth), then your tinnitus might be from heat in the Liver and Gall Bladder organ systems.

Another pattern that might produce tinnitus is a combination of phlegm and heat.  This is associated with signs of heat (see above) plus an overabundance of phlegm in your sinuses or chest, dizzy spells, and a feeling of heaviness, especially in your head.  Similarly, a common cold, called Wind Heat in Chinese medicine, can cause tinnitus if your ears become congested.

You may feel like you’ve tried everything to make that infernal ringing go away or perhaps you haven’t known where to start.  Here are a few things that you might try to help alleviate your tinnitus or make it a little more bearable.

Try some self-massage.  In Chinese medicine it’s called Tui Na, and it feels like massage, but it focuses on specific acupuncture points and pathways.  Some points to massage around your ears are the mastoid process, (which is the bony lump behind the lower half of your ears), and your TMJ, which is the hole in front of your ears when you open your mouth.  Also, massaging your Kidney area, in the small of your back may be helpful.

Avoid loud sounds.  No, really?  Okay, we all know that standing in front of a jet engine or going to a rock concert is too loud.  But any noise that makes you talk louder to be heard is too loud, including your vacuum cleaner or lawn mower.  Get someone else to do those chores or get earplugs at any drugstore.

If your tinnitus is worse at night and interferes with your sleep, try some white noise.  This can be as simple as turning your radio onto the static in between stations.  You can also use light music or a recording of the ocean or rain.

Pay attention to whether or not the ringing gets worse when you’re stressed or run down.  If so, do what you need to take care of yourself.

Skip the caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.  All of these can aggravate tinnitus.

Check out any medications you’re taking.  Aspirin is a big offender, here, commonly causing tinnitus.  Read the literature on any prescription meds you’re taking to see if tinnitus is a side effect.  If so, talk to your doctor to see if there are alternatives that don’t cause your ears to ring.

If you suffer from allergies, get them under control.  Chronic phlegm can obstruct your ears and cause ringing.

Avoid getting overly fatigued.  Make sure you’re getting enough sleep and down time during the week.

Work with a practitioner of Chinese medicine.  Depending on the cause, acupuncture and Chinese medicine may help alleviate your ringing.

Get your hearing checked.  Do this to rule out physical causes of tinnitus.

When my tinnitus got loud enough, I mentioned it to my regular doctor, who sent me to have my hearing checked.  There was hearing loss in one ear, indicating that something was up.  To make a long story short, I had a small, benign tumor pressing on my auditory nerve.  I had a very fancy radiation procedure, and the tumor has stopped growing, and over time will shrivel up.  The end result is that when I get tired, my ears ring.

I have treated my fair share of patients who suffer from bad headaches.  However, the pain of a migraine plus accompanying symptoms equals its own special kind of hell.

While stress headaches are triggered by…um, stress, migraines can be set off by a variety of triggers, including certain foods, missing a meal, getting dehydrated, alcohol, scents and smells, sleep disruptions, stress and strong emotions, hormones, changes in barometric pressure, and bright sunlight. 

One of the best ways to nail down what, if anything is setting off your headaches is to keep a diary or journal looking for patterns.  Include items like when your headaches occur, what you were doing, possible factors that might have triggered the headache, and what you ate in the several hours before the onset of your headache. 

Typically, migraines tend to move through stages.  However, many sufferers don’t have all the stages. For some, the early stages may not progress into a headache, or the stages may differ with each headache.  The stages include:

• Prodrome.  Several hours to a day prior to the headache, you may feel fatigued, uneasy, moody, or crave certain foods.
• Aura.  Vision problems, flashing lights, blind spots, a sense of confusion and even difficulty speaking may occur up to an hour before the onset of a headache.
• The Main Event.  This is the headache itself, which can be severe and affect one or both sides of your head.  You may experience other symptoms, like nausea, sensitivity to light, sounds, or smells.  This stage may last for hours or days.
• Postdrome.  Once the headache is over, you may feel pretty beat—tired, washed out, or achy.

In Chinese medicine, there are a number of patterns associated with migraine headaches, and require careful diagnosis by a licensed practitioner to be effectively treated (Yes, Chinese medicine can treat your migraines!).  There are a couple of patterns in Chinese medicine that are commonly diagnosed in people who have migraines.

The first pattern is associated with your Chinese Liver, which is the organ system that’s responsible for the smooth flow of everything in your body. In a perfect world, the Qi (energy) in your energetic pathways move slowly and consistently upward, much like the rising of sap in a healthy tree.  (Your Liver is associated with the element of wood in Chinese medicine.)  While there are a variety of triggers, a Liver headache is frequently set off by strong emotions, anger, or stress. When you get a migraine according to this pattern, there is an uncontrolled rushing upward of Liver energy, which stagnates in your head, causing your headache. This kind of headache is typically severe and frequently one-sided.

To make things even a little more miserable, this kind of headache can be associated with heat symptoms like thirst, insomnia, irritability, and feeling hot or feverish. Throw in a little nausea, maybe some dizziness, and you’ve got a whopper.

A second common pattern associated with migraines is that of Blood stasis (or stagnation of Blood).  What this means in terms of Chinese medicine is that Blood is not flowing smoothly, and this “blockage” is causing your headache.

This kind of headache may run the gamut of accompanying symptoms, but has two hallmark signs.  First, the pain begins in a fixed location on your head or face, and second, the pain is intense.  I have seen patients with this kind of a migraine point to the place where it starts with one finger—a small spot, always in the same place.  From this small focal point blossoms a major, out-of-control headache.

Needless to say, if you suffer from migraines and want to treat them with Chinese medicine, you will need to seek the care of a practitioner who can diagnose, and then effectively treat you.  That person may use acupuncture, Chinese herbs, food therapy, and ahem, lifestyle adjustments.  In the meantime, some things you can do for self-care during a migraine include:

• Apply some cold.  Wrap a dish towel around an ice pack, a bag of frozen peas, or a cold can of soda.  Apply the cold to the area(s) of pain.
• Rest. If you have a monster headache, don’t even think about trying to work through it.  Go home, lie down, and rest.
• Stay hydrated.  Drink if possible, however, if nausea is a problem, try sucking on some ice chips.
• Desensitize.  Protect yourself from bright lights and loud noises.  Go indoors, close the shades, and turn out the lights.  If you can’t be at home, use sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat to filter the bright light.
• Relax.  Deep breathing, visualization, and meditation may help speed the passing of your symptoms.
• Caffeinate.  Drinks with caffeine, such as coffee or tea may help soothe the pain associated with your migraine.
• Medicate. It would be unrealistic to expect anyone to suffer through a three-alarm migraine without medication.  The recommended care in Western medicine would be to start with an over-the-counter analgesic (aspirin, ibuprofen), and if the pain doesn’t get better, go to a migraine-specific medication (prescribed by your doctor).  It’s important to note here, that if you take any medication day after day (or even several times a week) you may get rebound headaches, which occur in the morning or if you miss a dose of medication.  A better choice would be to seek out a qualified practitioner of Chinese medicine, get rid of the headaches once and for all, and stop with the medications.

So what does Chinese medicine have to offer in the way of cold relief?  Well, it really is true that there is no cure for the common cold.  But the Chinese do have some tools up their sleeve in the way of shortening the duration if you get a cold.

Your cold has some characteristics that help us acupuncturist determine how best to treat it.  First, a common cold is considered an illness of the exterior of your body.  This means that it’s fairly superficial compared to a deep-seated disease of, say, your kidneys or heart.  Your cold is also external because you caught it from some outside funkiness, like someone sneezing into your coffee or driving past a daycare center.

In Chinese medicine, your cold is considered a kind of wind.  Pathogens, or stuff that makes you sick, is a little like bad weather in your body.  You can have heat, cold, damp, and in the case of your cold, you have wind.  Wind tends to affect your upper body, with changeable symptoms that come and go, and those symptoms tend to move around—all characteristics of your average common cold.

So your cold is considered external wind.  But there’s more.  Here’s where some diagnostic skills come into play.  Your cold can be associated with symptoms of warmth or cold.  Warm symptoms include running a fairly high temperature, more fever than chills, a really sore throat, thirst, yellow phlegm when you cough or blow your nose, and painful or red eyes.  Cold or cool symptoms include clear phlegm when coughing or blowing, more chills than fever, a mild sore throat, losing your voice, and achiness that tends to move around.

Whether your cold is one of wind plus heat or wind plus cold, here are some things you can do using Chinese medicine to speed up your recovery:

• Your first order of business is to sweat it out.  You can do this yourself on the first day or so if you catch it in time.  At home, make a broth of grated ginger and scallions (you can add chicken or vegetable broth), drink it down, bundle up, and go to bed and sweat. 
• If your cold is the wind plus cold variety, you will want to warm things up and disperse the cold pathogen.  Common household herbs like cinnamon, basil, cayenne pepper, fennel, mustard seed, as well as ginger and scallions are warming and help relieve your symptoms and speed the duration of your cold.
• In China, herbal formulas for wind and cold generally start with a combination of ephedra and cinnamon twig, plus other herbs depending on your symptoms.  However, in the United States, ephedra can no longer be used in herbal formulas, so your best bet is to talk to a practitioner who can prescribe the right formula for your symptoms.
• If you’re unlucky enough to have a wind plus heat type of cold, the path to feeling better is cooling the heat and dispersing the warm pathogen.  Some cooling herbs that you may have around the house that can help include mint and chrysanthemum (probably as a tea).  The classic herbal formula for a wind heat kind of cold is called Yin Qiao San. 
• You can also find teas or powders at your local Asian grocery store that contain the herb Ban Lan Gen (you may have to ask).  Ban Lan Gen has antibiotic and antiviral properties and also clears heat—a good choice, especially if you have a wind heat kind of cold (but it can be used for either).
• Beyond treating wind heat or wind cold, you may also need some help if you have a cough, sinus congestion, and wheezing or congested lungs.  There are herbal formulas for all of these situations, but you’ll need a little guidance from your acupuncturist or practitioner of Chinese medicine.
• Acupuncture can also be helpful in speeding a cold on its way.  Your practitioner would needle points to clear the pathogen from the exterior of your body, points to warm or cool as needed, and points to resolve your specific symptoms.

Obesity in today’s youth can’t solely be attributed to overeating and lack of exercise.  It’s important to understand that excessive weight gain can be influenced by heredity and family behavior.  Even as early as in Psych 101, we have learned that overeating can be a behavioral problem.

In a reputable piece published by Medical News Today, doctors from the University of Adelaide linked obesity directly to  depression. Specifically, author Dr. Evan Atlantis states “Although the topic is largely unexplored, several psychosocial, lifestyle and physiological factors may be involved in the complex inter-relationship between obesity and mental illness…” Subsequent feelings of low self esteem, low self worth, and guilt often contribute greatly to a person’s every day eating habits. Dr. Atlantis continues,  “Obesity may constitute a chronic stressful state, which in turn can cause significant physiological dysfunction. Such dysfunction would then predispose individuals to depressed mood and associated symptoms.” Ultimately, this dysfunction would activate the endocannabinoid system, which in turn, increases appetite and may altogether alleviate depression.

Some of the most comment causes of obesity in the world today are:

•Diet
•Lifestyle
•Metabolism
•Genetics/Heredity
•Emotions
•Lack of Sleep
•Medications
•Diseases

The domino affect allows many people to dig themselves into holes; leading to weight gain and depression. It’s not an easy task to eliminate excessive fat due to depressive symptoms.  Subsequently, a person may find him/herself having to overcome depression AND lose weight.
As challenging a task as this may sound, people still have options.  This condition that already produces several health problems that cause many to seek help via weight-loss procedures from centers like MetropolitanMD (a Chicago liposuction and cosmetic surgery center that employs some of the best plastic surgeons Chicago has to offer).

However, before consulting with a surgeon, individuals should look to natural weight loss practices, such as exercise and diet. Instinctively enough, those who suffer from depressive systems tend to be inactive, which in turn leads to weight problems. It’s important to remember to stay as active as possible, which includes more than simply going for a run four days a week.  Connecting with friends, family, and coworkers is great way to avoid depression, which is related to lifestyle, but can directly affect one’s mood.

Mood swings are common for those suffering with depression and can be caused by a lack of communication and poor relationships with others. Perhaps the easiest way to stay healthy is to surround yourself with healthy people, creating a much healthier environment to live in. Behavioral traits have a tendency to spread like wildfire within a group, so it’s  important to remove yourself from an unhealthy situation. It’s equally important to pay close attention to any type of medication that you may be on as side affects could potentially lead to disease, lack of sleep or a sudden change in diet. Moreover, this could all lead to an increase in weight.

Emotional stability is important in any person’s life, and will directly affect their lifestyle. Combined with the above contributing factors, emotional dysfunction has the potential to be a lethal underlying cause for obesity. It’s quite easy to notice the correlation amongst the causes/symptoms of depression and obesity. The best way to avoid this growing epidemic is to take preventative action. Remember to stay healthy and help promote healthy habits by influencing others around you to do the same.

In western medicine, fatigue can be caused by anemia, thyroid issues, blood sugar problems, or the Epstein Barr virus that causes chronic fatigue syndrome.  However, after those diagnoses have been ruled out, a western doctor may have a hard time getting to the bottom of why you’re so tired.

In Chinese medicine, there are many patterns that are associated with some element of fatigue, and the nature of your fatigue is often a clue to its source.  In general, fatigue is caused by either a depletion of some body substance (Energy, Blood, Yin, or Yang) or there is some kind of blockage or impaired flow. 

Here are some common patterns in Chinese medicine that can be a source of fatigue:

•Liver Energy Stagnation.  The Chinese Liver is responsible for the smooth flow of everything in your body. However when there is a blockage of Liver energy, the symptoms can really get your attention.  The fatigue you feel is intermittent, you usually feel tired in the morning, and actually feel a little better with movement or as the day goes on.  Symptoms are usually aggravated by stress and are worse before your period.  Many people with Liver stagnation would describe themselves as irritable or depressed.  This pattern is usually a psychological response to things not going well in your job, relationships, finances, or life.

•Accumulation of Phlegm or Dampness.  Okay, this sounds really gross, but it’s a pattern that I frequently see in the clinic.  Dampness occurs when your body doesn’t metabolize fluids or moisture very well.  It’s a little bit like a farmer’s field that doesn’t drain well after a heavy rain.  When dampness sits around for awhile, it congeals and becomes phlegm.  People who have phlegm and dampness feel heavy or weighted down.  The also tend to be overweight, with a history of eating lots of rich foods like greasy meats, fried foods, or lots of dairy, or they just eat too much food in general.  They may also have visible phlegm, like sinus problems, a chronic cough, or asthma.  Often the fatigue associated with this pattern is associated with feeling heavy, poor concentration, or foggy thinking.  A patient of mine with this pattern once described herself as feeling like she was always trying to fight her way out of a wet paper bag.

•Energy Depletion.  The energy that fuels your body comes from the food you eat and the air you breathe.  If those processes are not working well, you may find that a depletion of energy is making you…um, low on energy.  If your digestion is funky in some way, you may feel tired right after meals, because your body is diverting all your energy into digesting what you’ve eaten.  You may also feel tired after any kind of exertion or mental activity, but feel better after resting.  Basically, you’ll feel tired as you use energy, and better with a little down time.  If the source of your low energy is your lungs, you may experience shortness of breath with any kind of effort, have a weak voice, and even get sweaty doing a minimal amount of work.

•Blood  Depletion.  This pattern is a little like being anemic, and can be brought on by a loss of blood or a chronic illness.  It’s also a common problem among new mothers, especially those who work too hard too soon after childbirth.  The fatigue associated with this pattern is also worse with any kind of activity or exertion.  However, sufferers may also experience eye problems, dizziness or feeling light-headed, and have dry skin, hair or nails.

•Yang Depletion.  In your body Yang works a little bit like a pilot light, which warms everything up and keeps everything moving.  People with depleted Yang feel a deep and disabling fatigue, some of whom can’t even get out of bed.  Because their pilot light is low, Yang deficient people also feel cold at their core, especially in the winter, have a hard time warming up, and may retain water. Fatigue associated with this pattern is worse after any kind of activity.

•Yin Depletion.  This is a common pattern in the clinic, especially among women going through menopause.  In contrast to Yang’s pilot light, Yin acts like a nourishing coolant, keeping your body moist and keeping the warmth of Yang in check.  Yin depletion is kind of an odd pattern in that sufferers may feel fatigued, yet feel jittery at the same time.  This pattern is associated with symptoms such as night sweats, waking or restless sleep, dry skin, and a dry or sore throat on waking.  Often symptoms are worse with overwork and stress.

•Pain.  Chronic pain has the ability to really wipe you out.  This is a pattern of both blockage and depletion.  Basically, pain acts a little like a dam in your body, in which the pain is blocking the flow of energy.  Because your energy has stagnated, its supplies are depleted, causing you to feel tired.  In addition, dealing with the pain psychologically also wipes out your energy.  Over time, your pain may become secondary to the fatigue it has caused.

Fatigue associated with any of the patterns above can be treated effectively within the framework of Chinese medicine.  However, depending on the source of your fatigue, a practitioner would choose acupuncture points, herbs, foods, and other treatments appropriate for your particular case.  You don’t have to go through life tired.  One of the most frequent comments I hear from patients after their first treatment or two is that their energy has really improved!

Jay is now engaged in a little crutching, a lot of elevating, and waiting while his fractures heal.  This brings me to the topic of today’s post, which is how we heal, or how we help or hinder the natural healing process.

More than once, I have treated patients who have had illnesses or injuries, in which they slowed or actually reversed the healing process.  One that comes to mind is a woman who was an ultra-distance runner.  She came to me because she was training for a 100-mile race while nursing a foot injury.  She was healing just fine with a little acupuncture and rest, but felt compelled to test the foot out with a 50-mile training run, just to see how it was holding up.  The results were predictable—on race day, she started out well, but was ultimately hobbled by her injury and had to drop out of the race.

While it may seem fairly simple to just get out of the way and let your body heal, there are actually a few things you can do (or not do) to help the healing process along.  Among them:

• Get enough rest.  Your body heals while you rest and sleep.  In fact, you may feel deeply fatigued after an illness or surgery.  So grab a book, watch TV, sleep, and allow your body to use its energy to heal.
• Let the glue dry.  Allow your injury or illness to heal completely.  Resist the urge to “test” your injured limb or your ability to function at 100 percent.  You’ll be back soon enough.
• Realize that the older you are, the longer it takes to heal.  Children tend to heal before your eyes due to their expansive nature and the fact that they are growing very quickly.  As you get older, your body will still heal completely, but it takes a little longer.  Don’t compare yourself to your 12-year-old with a broken arm.
• Eat to heal.  While you’re healing, it’s even more important to eat as healthfully as possible.  Your body is using building blocks to heal based on the food you eat.  Make sure you’re getting enough protein, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.  At the same time, if you’re laid up and worried about gaining a few extra pounds, realize that once you’re up and around, that weight will come off fairly quickly.
• Heal your spirit.  Stress, depression, boredom, fear, and frustration are all common feelings associated with illness and injury.  Recognize that these feelings are normal under the circumstances.  Talking to friends, family members, or a health professional can be extremely helpful.  In addition, finding activities that are relaxing and enjoyable (reading, old movies, learning something new) can help, too. 
• Listen to your body.  With its incredible wisdom, your body has everything it needs to heal, and will let you know when you’re good to go.  If you’re still feeling fatigued, in pain, or just not quite right, you’re still in the healing process, so don’t push too hard.  Let your body do its thing.
• Get some acupuncture.  Acupuncture can speed up the healing process, alleviate pain, and is excellent for treating stress and mood disorders.  It works by affecting brain chemistry in a number of positive ways, as well as increasing the concentration of white blood cells locally where the needles have been inserted.  While you’re healing, let your acupuncturist help—you’ll feel better and heal faster.

Pain in the lower back is one of the most common problems acupuncturists see in the clinic.  It can be severe enough to lay some people out flat on the floor, or it can show up as a general achiness that never seems to quit.  Either way, low back pain has the ability to ruin your life.

In Chinese medicine, there are generally three main causes of low back pain.  The first is considered an invasion by a pathogen, which is a fancy word for something a little like bad weather in your body.  The most common pathogen related to low back pain is dampness, and comes from living in a cold damp climate, or spending your time living or working in a cold or damp building.  Dampness comes from the ground and tends to affect the lower parts of your body, much like water flowing downward.  Your ankles swelling up at the end of the day is also a kind of dampness in the lower body.

How do you know if it’s dampness messing with your lower back? Well, dampness is heavy.  You may experience a sensation of heaviness; much like your back or lower body is waterlogged.  Another telltale sign that dampness is the culprit behind your lower back woes is that the pain is strongly related to changes in the weather.  Just like Aunt Edna, whose bunions acted up when the weather changed, if your low back pain gets worse when the weather changes, it’s considered a pathogen—and almost always dampness.

To complicate the dampness thing, you can have damp cold, in which the pain is worse in the cold weather and feels better when you put heat on it.  Or you can have damp heat, with a sensation of heat in your lower back that feels better when you ice it.

A second cause of lower back pain in Chinese medicine is a weakness of some kind in the Kidney organ system.  The Kidneys live in your lower back, and dull, chronic low back pain is a hallmark symptom of a deficient Kidney.  In this case, the pain is usually not so severe, is more chronic, and may be accompanied by knee pain or weakness.

When your Kidney is weak, it can be a Kidney Yin deficiency or a Kidney Yang deficiency.  In general, a Kidney Yin deficiency is accompanied by mild signs of heat like red cheeks, night sweats, thirst, and waking with a dry, sore throat.  Kidney Yang deficiency is associated with symptoms of feeling cold, especially at your core, and water retention.

A third cause of low back pain is trauma.  This usually means you know how you hurt your back—a fall, lifting something heavy, twisting and reaching for soap in the shower, or an actual injury.  This kind of lower back pain is usually pretty severe—the kind that lays you out flat on the carpet.  It is also usually acute, meaning that you haven’t had it for years and years.

Over time, regardless of the cause, unresolved low back pain tends to become chronic.  In this case, you have a general stagnation of energy and blood.  This just means that the circulation in that area is less then stellar, and probably needs some help for your back to heal—ideally, from acupuncture.

In general, low back pain responds well to acupuncture, and will cost you less than the price of an X-Ray, MRI, or medical assessment.  Furthermore, with acupuncture you will begin getting your back treated on the very first visit, rather than waiting for tests to come back or for a referral to the physical therapist.  A practitioner of Chinese medicine will use acupuncture to ease our pain, but may also incorporate the use of Chinese herbs, heat, cupping, electric stimulation of the area, and massage.

A couple of things you can do at home to ease the pain while your back is acting up include:

-Apply heat to your low back.  The only exception to this is if your low back feels warm, then apply ice.

-Get out of the cold and damp.  If it’s cold outside, bundle up or stay indoors until your back calms down.  If you work in a cold office or underground, use a space heater to stay warm.

-Create some movement by getting a massage.  Or coax, cajole, or plead with your partner or someone you know to give you a low back rub.

-Gently stretch your back if the pain is not acute or stabbing.  (If so, skip this one.)  Try lying on your back, gently bend your knees and bring them up to your chest.

-Sleep with a small pillow under your knees to maintain the natural curve of your spine.  If you sleep on your side, put the pillow between your knees.  If you sleep on your face, you shouldn’t be.

In most cases, with a little help from your acupuncturist, and a little self-care, you’ll be walking tall and moving quicker in no time.

My brush with butt pain happened about three days into a week long kayaking trip in the middle of nowhere.  I woke up one morning and tried to walk down to the beach to wash my face, but my leg, or more accurately, my butt wouldn’t cooperate.  I could walk, but just barely, because a nagging pain on the right side of my low back and butt was causing my leg to fold up like a card table.

I managed to get through the kayaking trip—surprisingly; I was able to paddle without much pain, but once I got out of my kayak, I was pretty well hobbled.  It wasn’t until a week or two later that I learned that I had something called Piriformis syndrome. 

Since then, I have made it my business to know as much as possible about sciatic nerve pain.  If you suffer from this kind of pain, here are some things you should know:

•Not all pain that begins in your butt and radiates down your leg is sciatica.  True sciatica is due pressure on your sciatic nerve from compressed lumbar disks, trauma, or degeneration in your lower back.

•Piriformis syndrome often feels just like sciatica, but the cause is from a spasm in the Piriformis muscle.  Your Piriformis is a core stabilizing muscle that runs deep from your sacrum (at the base of your spine) to your hip (the bone on the outside top of your thigh.)  Your sciatic nerve runs under, and for some people, through the Piriformis muscle.  When your Piriformis is injured, it can compress the sciatic nerve where it passes through the pelvis.  Beyond pain deep in your butt, Piriformis syndrome usually causes pain that radiates down the back or side of your leg, and can travel through your knee and into your foot.  The pain can be achy and dull, sharp, nagging, and even cause numbness and tingling.

•It can be tough to tell the difference between true sciatica and Piriformis syndrome, because the symptoms tend to mimic each other, but there are a few clues.  With sciatica, you will usually have pain radiating all the way into your lower leg and foot, but with Piriformis syndrome, the pain often radiates only as far as your knee.  Areas of complete numbness along the pathway of the nerve indicate sciatica.  Also, Piriformis syndrome is associated with some very tender trigger points in your butt.  For a definitive diagnosis, your doc will need to rule in or out disk problems as the source of your pain.

•Overuse is a common cause of Piriformis syndrome, and it can be a common injury that sidelines athletes.  Prolonged sitting and trauma can also aggravate the Piriformis muscle, causing it to swell or go into spasms, which causes the sciatic nerve to be pinched. 

•I have found in my acupuncture practice that Piriformis syndrome is frequently caused by cold.  It seems to be more prevalent in the winter or after a patient has been outdoors in the cold.  I believe that my kayaking debacle was caused by sitting in a cold, wet kayak for hours on end.  (No pun intended.)

•In my experience, Piriformis syndrome is far more common than true sciatica.  The good news is that I find that my patients with Piriformis syndrome respond far more quickly to treatment than those with sciatica.

•Treatment for butt pain in Chinese medicine would include acupuncture, heat, body work, stretching, and at home care. Acupuncture speeds healing by promoting circulation to the area of injury.  In addition, research has documented that acupuncture works by increasing the release of pain-relieving chemicals in the brain.

•I have found that electro acupuncture, in which the inserted needles are hooked up to a small machine that painlessly contracts or “vibrates” the muscle is especially effective in relieving pain and speeds up the healing process.  Electro acupuncture works by relaxing the muscles that are tight or in spasm.

•Western treatments for butt pain may include rest, physical therapy, injections of local anesthetics or steroids, and prescription medications for pain or to relax the muscles.  For difficult or chronic cases, your doctor may recommend surgery.

•At home treatments include heating the painful area, rolling on a tennis ball to release trigger points (points that are especially tender), and gentle stretching.  A simple stretch for the Piriformis muscle:  Sit in a chair with both feet on the floor.  To stretch the right side, place your right ankle across the top of your left knee.  Then gently lean forward until you feel the stretch in your butt. Repeat on the other side by reversing the action.

As for my own butt injury, once I was out of the wilderness, I enlisted the help of an acupuncturist to relieve my pain.  I was lucky; it took about a week before I stopped limping, and a few more before I was completely pain-free.  Combined with some daily stretching and strengthening exercises from a physical therapist, I haven’t had a recurrence.  My butt’s just fine, thank you.