Take off the backpack of back pain thanks to acupuncture

One more day in consultation. A new patient looking for a solution to his chronic and irritating back pain, that affect your sleep and rest. He tells me that she has already changed the mattress, but has not noticed any improvement. He has checked his bad posture and is getting no relief either.

And now he appears here, without being very clear about what he is going to find, with the recommendation of someone he trusts. She appears before me with this “backpack”, and never better said, because the pain has become a heavy load on their backs.

How to treat the physical, energetic and emotional causes of back pain

Since I am going to need your collaboration, I want you to understand how we are going to work. I explain that we can see the reasons for the pain as Two sides of the same coin. From the physical point of view, there is a muscular contraction, a vertebra that pinches a nerve or a sprained lumbar ligament.

But we can also approach it from an energetic vision, in the holistic way of the Chinese traditional medicine, the world of acupuncture and other techniques. This is what I will try to show you.

the back is like a river

When the patient explains to me what his pain is like I imagine his back as a river. A river where blood, fluids and chi or energy flow. And I need your cooperation to understand what’s wrong with him.

I need information, to know what the pain is like: sharp or dull? Fixed or moving? Is it worse when in bed or better when resting? Where do you find it?

With each answer, the image of that river becomes clearer and allows me to understand what is happening with his back, with his pain. I mentally draw a state of affairs and prepare my toolbox to help you improve your situation.

A blockage of energy

Generally, from the energetic vision, we understand pain as the expression of a blockage in the flow of blood or chi. Like the dam of a reservoir where it remains stagnant. He cannot move with the joy of the water coming down from the mountains.

We already have the first important clue: there is a stagnation, the chi has not completely stopped, but it does not flow as it normally does.

Now we are going to give it a last name, because not all discomforts are the same. The holistic view of acupuncture it does not stay in the cause of our patient’s visit, but instead searches and investigates the rest of the signals that the body sends us.

It must be found out which channel, meridian or organ is affected And in what way: if there is more energy than it touches in an area or, on the contrary, if there is a deficiency or it has simply stopped.

lifestyle influences

Once the most local aspects have been studied, we can open the field of vision and assess other health basics: sleep, digestion, other pains and lifestyle.

All these data provide us with the name and surnames of the energy situation of the person in front of us. Now we can get to work restoring balance to your back.

In the end, pain is just a symptom, a cry from the body for us to stop and listen to it. Staying with the idea that the discomfort that overwhelms us is related only to something physical is simplistic for oriental subtlety.

Where do the blockages come from?

It usually all starts with a energy imbalance, a phase of life with significant stress, physical or emotional. Of the months that we have abused in the gym or, above all, for enduring a situation that makes us uncomfortable day after day: work, family, partner…

And then the weak point feels malnourished, the organ that requires the most care loosens up and symptoms appear: pain.

We can say that the pain almost always comes from an excess, to bear what our self does not want to bear and generally becomes an emotion: rage, anger, frustration, fear, sorrow or worry. Although, without a doubt, we can wake up one morning with a stiff neck from having fallen asleep on the sofa…

What is your blocked emotion?

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is known that each emotion especially affects an organ and an area of ​​the back:

the worry wears out the digestive system. The spleen rules here. In the back it manifests itself at night and in the lower dorsal area of ​​the spine. Eliminate cold and raw food, add heat to the body and avoid dairyThe wrath It belongs to the Wood element and its organ is the liver, in charge of storing and mobilizing blood. When it is altered, pain usually appears in the upper trapezius. They are loaded cervicals. Activities with gentle movement help.The fear It is linked to the kidney and the element of Water. It is a paralyzing emotion that locks the lower back and can contracture a muscle, the quadratus lumborum, which limits movement and often causes fixed, sharp pain. In cases like this, the heat of a mat or a hot water bottle is a good ally.The sadness affects the lungs, whose element is Metal. The pain is felt in the upper part of the back, up to the clavicle. You have to dilute the sentence. Crying is the simplest remedy. It allows to open the chest, filling it with life.

Tailor-made pain treatment

Either way, you feel pain. What to do then? The first thing is discover with the therapist the causes of the pain. Then, needles and suction cups to mobilize the hateful stagnation.

And with the improvement, without irritating or limiting pain, see What do you need to incorporate into your life? Generally two great friends: movement and good nutrition. And then assess how to mitigate the effects of those harmful emotions.

The advantages of fine-tuned movement

But be careful: what do we understand by movement? If we see someone doing tai chi or chi kung we will be surprised by their slowness. It is an activity focused on move the chi without wearing out that precious energy. For those who are low on energy or will, it is a good solution.

Faced with “everyone running” or the pool as a great solution, we continue with oriental finesse to advise to each person according to their need.

We can continue to open the range of options. Theater, dancing, expressing oneself through art… movement. My premises are: enjoy doing it, Let the hours go by without you noticing. Then put away the judgement: enjoy painting without looking for a result. And, if you can, do it with friends.

live without the backpack

There comes a time when the patient is happy. How has the transformation occurred? First, we eliminate energy blockages, the fixed pain disappeared and the back stopped complaining.

At the same time, he returned to practicing his hobby, which helped him to have the emotions in motion Finally, she decided to follow some simple dietary advice to feel more energetic and want to do the things that feel good for her.

At the end, I note with joy that my patient has abandoned his heavy backpack. The pain has disappeared. We have worked to find out which organ and emotion affect you the most. And he has seen that his responsibility on a day-to-day basis is more important than an acupuncture session.