Acupuncture has been used for the treatment of back pain and
depression for many centuries. When we remember that in Oriental
medicine the mind has an influence on the body, and the body has an
influence on the mind, we can easily understand how these two different
ailments back pain and depression can be connected.
In the
Traditional Chinese medical framework, each organ is associated with a
specific emotion, which in the case of the Liver is Anger. According to
Traditional Chinese medicinal theory, the built up of repressed anger
causes the liver Qi energy to stagnate. This in turn affects the
spiritual aspect of that organ which is called "The ethereal soul ". It
provides us the ability to make decisions. When the Liver Qi (energy) is
unbalanced, that ability is lost. This can result in poor motivation,
and a general lack of direction in life.
The affected person often
become inflexible in their ideas, unable and unwilling to accept other
people's opinions; they gradually alienate those close to them. Build up
feelings of frustration and anger can lead to powerlessness and
depression when these demands can't be met. These negative emotions will
have on effect on the body causing it to become tight and inflexible,
like the mind of the depressed patient, and result in back pain and
other physical ailments, like digestive problems.
Other emotions
such as grief and guilt can affect other organ's energy such as the
lungs or the heart and the kidneys and also lead to depressive states.
Hence acupuncture for back pain and depression is adjunct treatment for chronic health problems or disorders.
A
constitutional weakness in the kidneys energy can result in a lack of
willpower. We have probably all met some of these enthusiastic people
who always seem to be full of projects, and great ideas, but they never
seem to be able to bring anything to completion. This underlying
weakness can be another building ground for depression. Also, kidneys
weakness makes that person susceptible to lower back pain.
It is
characterized by the type of pain which builds up slowly throughout the
day, and becomes worse with any type of exertion. In that case, we often
see two distinct patterns with either an accompanying weakness in the
knees and feelings of cold in the extremities, or in opposite, symptoms
of internal heat like insomnia, or irritability, and dry throat and
mouth.
If the Liver itself is the causing factor, the pain will be
sharp, alternating from side to side, maybe travelling up to the
shoulders and neck, accompanied with aching joints.
In these
cases, taking pharmaceutical medication will only have a short term
symptomatic benefit, while a course of acupuncture treatments combined
with mediation and gentle exercise can often be a life changing
experience for patients suffering from either the back pain or the
depression, or even both.
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