Why Use Traditional Chinese Medicine?
Part 3 - TCM & Arthritis (Painful Obstruction Syndrome)

The third article of a series about Traditional Chinese Medicine
by Judy Fitzgerald

To Read Part 1 of this series click here.
To Read Part 2 of this series click here.

TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) syndromes rarely correspond to
Western-defined medical conditions. For example, the breathing problems which warrant a diagnosis of asthma in the West may have one or more of several different TCM Roots. What helps in the case of one person may do nothing for a second and may even hurt a third because the TCM Roots are different. TCM is very concerned with identifying TCM imbalances instead of merely treating symptoms

Some of the few rough correspondences - exceptions to the general rule - are the common cold and many cases of the flu (Wind Cold in TCM) and most cases of arthritis and rheumatism (called Painful Obstruction Syndrome or Bi Pain in TCM).

As we saw in a previous post, TCM considers if a condition is Interior or Exterior. Interior conditions affect the trunk of the body and the internal Organs. In contrast, Painful Obstruction Syndrome affects the Exterior, the limbs, head, neck, skin, muscles, sinews, and bones. Just because a condition is Exterior, it does not mean that the condition isn't extremely painful and debilitating.

TCM sees Painful Obstruction Syndrome as being caused by Cold, Damp, and Wind invading the body. Many Westerners also recognize the role that cold, damp, and wind play in aggravating their arthritis. The TCM concept of Wind includes not only wind, but changes in barometric pressure and changes in ion concentrations in the air.

Painful Obstruction Syndrome (POS) is further classified according to which "Pernicious Evil" - Wind, Damp, or Cold - is causing the most problems. Wind POS is characterized by soreness and pain that move around. Like the wind itself, these pains do not stay in one place.

Damp POS is characterized by pain and soreness that stay in one place. In addition, there will be feelings of heaviness and perhaps of numbness in the arms and legs. Cold results in a very severe pain that stays in one place and which usually is on one side of the body or worse on one side than the other.

In addition, there is a Heat Painful Obstruction Syndrome which is caused by Wind, Damp, or Cold becoming trapped in the body and transforming to Heat. Any Pernicious Evil - even Cold - can transform into Heat and even Fire if conditions are wrong. Heat POS is characterized by feelings of pain and heat in the joints. There may also be redness and swelling of joints. If there is swelling, not just Heat is present, but Damp Heat is present.

Bone POS is more serious than the other four Painful Obstruction Syndromes. It only develops in chronic cases of one or more or the other four POSes. The muscles atrophy and the bones deform. The Internal Organs may be affected. The condition is no longer Exterior but Interior. It is very
serious.

Why do some people experience arthritic and rheumatic pains and others do not? In order for a Pernicious Evil to invade the body, Protective Qi and Blood must be weaker than the Pernicious Evil. In acute cases, this is a temporary condition; in chronic cases, this is on-going.

Protective Qi is the Qi that circulates at the surface of the body and protects the individual from Cold, Wind, and Damp. Blood also can play a role in protecting the body by keeping the tissues correctly moistened and nourished so that Qi will flow freely. In addition to Wind, Cold, and/or Damp invasion triggering pain, Qi Stagnation and Blood Stasis also will cause pain. Any time Qi or Blood Stagnates, there will be pain.

This is why people frequently developed Painful Obstruction Syndrome in an area that has been injured. Whenever a person is injured, Qi Stagnation and Blood Stasis will develop in the area of the injury. If Blood Stasis is not properly treated, it can persist for years - long, long after the injury supposedly has healed. This localized Blood Stasis sets the person up for experiencing POS in the area that was injured.

In addition, emotions that are blocked or inappropriately expressed can set a person up for POS. What the blocked, over-expressed, under-expressed, or inappropriately expressed emotions do is they interfere with the smooth flow of Qi. Qi Stagnation and resulting Blood Stasis can cause a person to be vulnerable to invasion by Pernicious Evils and the development of POS. This is why learning to relax and meditate and to handle emotions better can result in improvement for some sufferers of POS. It frees up the Qi, including the Protective Qi. However, relaxation and meditating will not do a thing when there is a physical basis for the weak Protective Qi and/or Blood Deficiency such as a poor diet, Blood Stasis and Qi Stagnation from an old injury or surgical procedure, etc.

The treatment principle for Painful Obstruction Syndrome is to expel Wind, resolve Dampness, and scatter Cold. There are herbs and acupoints which can accomplish this. There are herbs such as cinnamon twigs (Rml Cinnamomi, aka Gui Zhi) and fresh ginger (not dried ginger) (Rz Zingiberis Recens, aka Sheng Jiang) which will relieve Wind Chill and warm the Exterior. There are herbs for expelling Wind Dampness such as Chinese Clematidis (Rx Clematidis Chinensis, aka Wei Ling Xian), mulberry twigs (Rml Mori Albae, Morus alba L., aka Sang Zhi), and cocklebur fruit (Fr Xanthii, aka Cang Er Zi).

In chronic cases of POS, the underlying chronic Protective Qi Deficiency will need to be addressed with tonic herbs like astragalus ( Rx Astragali, aka Huang Qi) which will supplement Protective Qi. (Warning: Do not take any tonic herb when there is infection present except on the advice of atrained TCM herbalist.) If Blood Deficiency is present, a Blood tonic herb like Dang Gui (Rx Angelicae Sinensis) is called for. The are herbs which will resolve Blood Stasis and move Blood when that is part of the underlying problem. Turmeric - like you buy in the spice section of the supermarket - is one of these. Chives is another.

Qi Stagnation can be resolved with herbs that move Qi. Qi Gong (Tai Ch'i) exercises - a type of moving meditation - also will help with both Qi Stagnation and Blood Stasis. These exercises look very simple but pack powerful effects for healing or at least helping a number of conditions, not just Painful Obstruction Syndrome.

Note: In TCM single herbs rarely are used. A typical TCM formula will be tailor-made for an individual and contain several herbs. TCM healers do not treat just one imbalance at a time but will identify and treat all the person's imbalances at one time. Not all acupuncturists are trained in TCM or extensively trained in TCM. Some acupuncturists are trained in the French Energetics style of acupuncture. You will need to ask in order to determine if the acupuncturist is trained in TCM.

The next article will deal with obesity, weight loss, and TCM.

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Judy Fitzgerald runs a list called Chinese Healing on yahoo groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChineseHealing