Natures Pain Killers

Pain is a natural human experience, and it's not a pleasant one. As soon as we experience pain our next thought is "how can I stop it?"

In our search for some relief, why not turn to nature to try to alleviate some or all of the pain with natural relief? Essential oils, herbs, mental techniques, acupuncture and heat are all common and often cheap alternatives to drugs.

Before we delve into these natural solutions to treat pain, it's important to know the reason for the pain. Most of these natural alternatives are great for people who have already sought out medical help, and found there is either no "known cause" of the painful symptoms or the cause is untreatable and they are in a situation of managing the pain.

If the pain is acute (it just came on recently), it's something new, its getting worse and/or changing location to usual then it's important to seek medical advice. Visit your GP, registered professional health practitioner or go to the hospital if it's an emergency situation. In Australia we have a government health advice line you can ring and speak to a nurse who will assess if you need to go to emergency: 1800 022 222.

HEAT 

A great place to start to alleviate pain is heat. Heat makes blood vessels expand, getting more of the healing properties to the area you have heated up. Because too much blood with no movement can cause stagnation, it's best to use heat for 20 mins at a time, and follow up with some movement of the area or light massage around the area depending on the type of injury /pain you have.

MOXA

Moxa  is a type of herbal heat that is widely used in Chinese medicine. Moxa is a herb that has Blood moving properties, and is used by everyday people as well as practitioners to alleviate pain. In the clinic, you might see practitioners use moxa on acupuncture points with a stick or cones or even a moxa box. The wooden boxes are a great way to use the moxa at home for personal use. Tiger warmers - the metal stick device featured in the photo to the left, are a device designed to help people use the moxa stick on areas like the back, shoulders, limbs and abdomen to treat pain. We sell the tiger warmers and moxa boxes in our store, and our staff can assist you with help to learn how to use them.

Link to Moxa products on our Webstore just Below:
www.metrohealth.myshopify.com/moxa

ESSENTIAL OILS

Essential Oils are another favourite of mine for natural pain relief.

Frankincense, Clary Sage and Lavender is a good blend to soothe pain. Frankincense is a blood moving Chinese Herb - it's function is to move Blood stasis. Injuries will usually result in some degree of Blood stasis, so moving it will help speed up healing.

Frankincense and Clary Sage is great combination for period pain, back pain or pain from traumatic injuries. Lavender is soothing and is often used to help headaches. Apply directly or dilute and use with caution during pregnancy.

Heating Essential oils include Camphor, Menthol, Eucalyptus, Wintergreen - which are great for Arthritis or Joint pain (known or Cold/Damp Bi Zheng Syndrome in Chinese Medicine). Camphor and Menthol are common ingredients in well known "pain rubs" like tiger balm and deep heat. I once made a salt scrub using Wintergreen for a patient who suffered arthritis - in the shower they could scrub their body with the exfoliating scrub which left a soothing warming oily residue to moisturise and infuse the skin with the pain- reliving essential oils.


We have essential oils available in our Maylands Store and also online @ http://metrohealth.myshopify.com

MENTAL DISTRACTION

Finally, there is something great about mental distraction in managing chronic pain. You get what you foucs on...so if you have nothing else there but you and the pain, it will become worse due to it bieng your sole focus. Distract your mind by planning activities, watching a movie or TV, going for a walk if you can or even do a difficult puzzle or something else to take your mind off it.  Not all kinds of pain are suited to this method, but some pains, like period pain will actually benefit more from moving or standing than sitting and lying. Moving around might feel like the last thing you might feel like doing, however it's better to aid blood movement by standing and walking rather than sitting or lying down all day. Psychology, visualisation and hypnosis all contain powerful mind tools which experienced professionals can teach their clients how to better manage pain.

Of course, if pain gets worse, your symptoms change or your unsure of the cause you should see your Health Care Professional or go to the hospital in an urgent situation.

Self Help - Natural ways to relieve pain

Pain is an interesting phenomena of the human body.

Firstly, you need to know why you have the pain. Pain is a signal of something wrong and shouldn’t just be ignored or self-medicated without knowing it’s cause. In Chinese medicine, practitioners are all about getting to the root cause of the problem. We don’t just treat the symptoms but the Root as well (In TCM, this theory is called the Ben and Biao).

 

This post is really for people in chronic pain, when you know the cause and may need to manage it. There are lots of natural remedies on this earth which can alleviate pain. Please don’t take this advice as a replacement for seeing your health care professional or Western medical doctor.

Pain in the muscles or joints is a common one where we may easily know the cause. A simple over-working at the gym or sleeping incorrectly can cause us to wake up with muscular pain. If pain continues or gets worse, its advisable to seek professional advice and treatment. 

Natural ways to relieve pain:

• Warming

Heat makes blood vessels expand, which increases the blood supply to the heated area. If there is infection, then heat should NOT be applied. In Chinese medicine we usually suggest using heat at a hot but tolerable level (not a lukewarm hotpack) applied to the area for 20 minutes at a time.

Heat gets Blood flow to the area, while massage or movement can move some of the stagnation and assist repair and healing.  Heat shouldn’t be continuously applied without any movement or massage in-between each dose.

• Acupressure

Thousands of years people have been rubbing where it hurts, as an instinctive reaction to pain. Acupressure and Tuina-Chinese massage has been born out of this instinctive touching where pain occurs to relieve it. Knowing which channels and points are good for different areas of pain is the key to successful self-acupressure.

Here are some of my favourite self-acupressure points which may be useful for pain relief:

 Houxi SI 3 – Neck pain

Make a fist and look at your pinky finger. This point is just above where your pinky finger sits in the fist – under the knuckle bone of the 5^th metacarpal bone. The pressure should be directed towards the thumb under the bones, Use on the same side as the neck pain. For a stiff neck press it for about 2-3 minutes until a dull-achy sore feeling  is in the hand, continue pressing it and slowly rotate the neck from side to side according to it’s natural position.

  Hegu LI4 – Head pain, neck pain, shoulder and arm pain.

This point strongly stimulates release of the bodies natural pain killers. It is commonly called the “headache point” although in my 10+ years of practice I rarely find it a cure-all for headaches, sometimes it can make a strong headache worse. It is a very strong point for treating pain along it’s channel (the Large Intestine Channel) which goes from the index finger to the elbow and up onto the face. Press it the with your thumb or the back of a pen to get the right pressure

Diji Sp8 – Period pain

This point is the number one point for treating abdominal and period pain. It will be very sensitive during the period so the best way to use it with acupressure is to press it in with the back (not sharp) end of a pen. It is 3 cun measurements from the crease of the popliteal crease of the inside of the leg – Easy way to find it is the width of the four fingers, below the crease of the knee. See the picture that will make more sense! The point is right next to the bone.

Press this one for about 5 minutes until the pain starts to subside. When the pain is coming back you can press it again as many times as needed. 

• Plants

Plants have pain relieving properties – ranging from the opium poppy to essential oils, many of our pharmaceutical pain relieving drugs have natural plant origins.

• Essential Oils

Essential oils that can relieve muscular pain or menstrual pain (period pain) are CLARY SAGE and FRANKINSENCE oil. These are not the fragrance oils but the essential oils.

Frankinsense is a Chinese herb called Ru Xiang. It’s main function is to “move Blood” or as some author’s say it “quickens the Blood to dispel stasis”. Stasis or stagnation of Blood causes sharp and stabbing pain which is fixed in location.

These oils would normally be applied externally to the affected area. Don’t apply any oils to an open or healing scar site. It’s always appropriate to seek professional advice about whether it’s ok to use Essential oils in your specific health /sickness circumstances or in cases such as in pregnancy.

• Moxibustion

Heat is used in the treatment for pain in Chinese medicine, going back thousands of years. Heat was used in the form of Moxa, or Moxibustion well before there were microwaves to make wheat-bag hot packs.

If youre not familiar with moxa or moxibustion, you can click here for the post: Whats that Moxa smell all about?

The moxa box is a great invention of Chinese medicine which essentially houses the moxa stick and makes it easy to apply to the self.

MARIE HOPKINSON - Practice Details at www.metrohealth.com.au

What's that Moxa smell all about?

Moxibustion, or moxa as it’s commonly know is a herbal therapy used in Chinese medicine, often alongside acupuncture, where the herb is burned to warm acupuncture points.

There are several types of moxa, and two main uses known as direct and indirect Moxa. Although Moxa smells similar to marijuana when it’s burning, there is no similarity in its effects or properties of the herbs! Lots of people have made comment over the years entering our clinic and shopfront that "oh someone is toking up back there" as I'm sure many other TCM practitioners would have been confronted with these comments too.

The most common types of moxa used are the needle-head moxa, Japanese moxa cones (stick-on moxa) and Moxa sticks.

When Moxa is in it’s natural state, it looks like a pile of green herbal fluff – known as “moxa punk”. The punk can be condensed into sticks, cones or the rougher grades of moxa punkare used in baths or externally applied.

Moxa sticks are most commonly used by practitioners – holding them over points, or the sticks can be put into a moxa box and applied to the acupuncture points.  Parts of the sticks can be used on the needles, known as needle-head moxa.

Moxa can be used as the whole or part of the treatment in many conditions. It’s particularly useful when cold has invaded into the body. A common example is cold-obstruction type arthritis. Moxibustion is used routinely in China for knee pain. Several studies on osteoarthritis of the knee have been done, although small sample sizes and other inconsistencies make it hard to draw definitive conclusions using a western medical research model¹.

In my clinic, treatment of knee pain is one of the most common uses of moxa. Usually four points around the knee are used with needle-head moxa. This can expel cold and stimulate local blood flow, and stop pain.

Moxa works by the application of heat to acupuncture points. Actually it causes a very minor burn on the skin (First degree burn, which is simply redness), which stimulates the bodies inflammatory response. This inflammatory response is a complex process where blood vessels change to allow cells to exit into the inflamed area, and increased blood supply in general. While inflammation is normally considered a negative or unwanted thing, it is perhaps the “short burst” /localized activation of this response that is involved in the Moxibustion treatment of pain.

Breech Presentation is another routine use of moxa. The moxa cones or moxa stick is applied to the points at the end of the toes, which can cause the breech baby to turn into the correct position. The point used is BL 67 – it is known as the point which turns Yin into Yang. 

When the yin (Growth, nourishment, sedintary) reaches it’s maximum , it will transform into Yang (activity, birth, moving). In treating breech presentation, this is best applied sooner rather than later, around 34 weeks is good to start. Usually a course of treatment over 10 days is given, the practitioner can instruct the patient how to appy the moxibusion themselves (usually a partner can help do it at home), with 2 or 3 treatments of moxibustion, usually combined with acupuncture given in the clinic over this 10 day period. Increasing numbers of midwives and clinicians in hospital environments are using moxibustion for breech presentation. As recently suggested in letters to the editor of Acupuncture in Medicine Journal of Brittish Medical Acupuncture Society², many hospitals could save money on cesareans and obstetric procedures if moxibustion was used as a protocol.  

Next time you visit your acupuncturist, ask if moxibustion is appropriate for your case.

References:

1. Choi, T, Kim, T, Kang, J, Lee, M, & Ernst, E 2011, 'Moxibustion for rheumatic conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis', Clinical Rheumatology, 30, 7, pp. 937-945, MEDLINE Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2013.
2. Michael, W 2013, 'Letter to the editor on obstetric acupressure and acupuncture', Acupuncture In Medicine: Journal Of The British Medical Acupuncture Society, 31, 2, pp. 257-258, MEDLINE Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2013.

Stories from China...boy with bells palsy

Stories from China

When I was a new graduate, my first time in China I completed my internship in the Hangzhou Shi Zhong Yi Yuan - Hangzhou Chinese Medicine Hospital. It was a fabulous experience which forever shaped my continued love of Chinese medicine.

One day a boy with bells palsy came into the acupuncture clinic. He was around 5 years old and while his parents were keen for him to have acupuncture, the boy wasn't convinced! Not only was he scared from the sudden facial paralysis that had struck his face literally overnight, he was surrounded by patients with needles poking out from all parts of their body in the acupuncture outpatient clinic of this busy hospital.

It's quite normal in china for people to be treated all together in the same room. Some are seated with needles in their shoulder and face, others lying on beds being treated for back pain etc. While everyone looked quite relaxed and taking the treatment in their stride, the boy was rightly overwhelmed by the whole experience.

Bells Palsy is a condition which causes sudden facial paralysis. In western medicine, they don't know the cause although stress and sudden blast of cold wind to the face are agreed possible causes this conditions etiology in WM remains somewhat mysterious.

In Chinese medicine, we consider Wind - the external pathogenic factor; to be a culprit in causing the sudden contraction of the muscles of the face, resulting in one-sided facial paralysis. THere is often a lot of numbness, the person can't smile or close their eye properly. There can be moderate to severe pain as well.

Back to China...the boy with this condition was coaxed onto the bed by the doctor and they chatted in Chinese for a bit while I looked on and wondered if they would just force the kid to have the treatment? ...what would be the outcome of this situation?

The doctor, was Dr Zhu and was experienced over 30 yeas in his role. As he proceeded to calm the kid down, it was clear he had treated many children before. Taking an acupuncture needle he turned it around and tapped the points on the kids' face with the handle end, asking the kid if it hurt or not (Tong Bu Tong?). For each point the kid said (Bu Tong) "no" "no" "no". The kid's crying had now stopped and he lie there quite relaxed as the doctor cleverly quickly switched the needle around, inserting each point on the boys face quickly and painlessly.

He came in every day for 10 treatments. By the third day he was starting to look better, his facial paralysis was reducing he was able to jump up on the table and didn't need any coaxing to get the rest of the treatments. The doctor had given him a great first experience which caused him to accept the rest of the treatments.

PHOTO: Doctor Zhu and myself all the way back in 2001.