-IBIS-1.5.0-
tx
musculoskeletal system
low back pain
psychospiritual approaches
metaphors and correlations
Improvement in back pain is a good indicator of progress in patient's overall mental/emotional state since mental well being can often effect posture. (Harrison, p. 146)
Person wants to run away, walk out, or escape from the situation. (Gentry, p. 43)
Normal emotional responses to pain that need to be relearned:
- if a problem exists I can overpower it with muscular activity
- fear: pain is a nasty, terrible thing that must be localized and not allowed to spread; behavioral response is not breathing, restraining muscles around painful area (Achterberg and Lawlis, p. 212)
The back represents the support of life. LBP is associated with fear of money; lack of financial support. (Hay, 1984, p. 154)
Chronic pain syndrome develops as a result of having chronically negative attitudes and/or unconscious emotional response mechanisms that keep a person continually in stress. Chronic attitude problems are so much a part of a person's self-image that he or she does not recognize them as separate from the personality. Nothing is more difficult to identify than our assumed 'natural' ways of being in the world that are essentially patterns we have developed to help us cope. Certain body parts susceptible to chronic negative patterns include the spine, the stomach (as in ulcers), and the head (tension and migraine headaches). (Shealy, p. 256-266)
Chinese psychophysiology:
Kidney ~ Shen stores Jing (Essence) and governs birth, growth, reproduction, development, and aging; houses the Zhi (Will); expresses ambition and focus; controls the bones, particularly the lumbar spine and knees; facilitates inspiration by grasping and pulling down the Qi of the breath; carries the constitutional endowment from the parents; manifests through the reproductive function, and governs the process of passing on life to offspring; and displays the effects of sexual dissipation (especially excessive ejaculation), overwork, chronic degenerative processes, and extreme stress.
» Healthy expressions are gentleness, groundedness, and endurance.
» Kidney Xu (Deficiency) signs include indecisiveness; confused speech; dreams of trees submerged under water; cold feet and legs; abundant sweating (Seem, p. 28); fearfulness; apathy; chronic fatigue; discouragement; scatteredness; lack of will; negativity; impatience; difficult inhalation; low sex drive; lumbago; sciatica; and musculoskeletal irritation and inflammation, especially when worse from touch. As always, Yin Xu (Deficiency) predisposes to acute inflammation.
» Intense or prolonged fear depletes the Kidney. Often chronic anxiety may induce Xu (Deficiency) and then Fire within the Kidney. (Maciocia, p. 250) Overwork, parenting, simple aging, and a sedentary or excessively indulgent lifestyle all contribute significantly to Kidney Xu (Deficiency).
Pang Guang ~ Chinese "Bladder" receives the "dirty" part of fluids after Small Intestine separates them from the "clean" fluids; is in charge of Qi transformation, i.e. transforming and excreting fluids by the power of Qi; and controls the storing of fluid.
» Fear, or more exactly fright, adversely effects the Bladder. In adults, Bladder disharmonies are often manifested with feelings of suspicion and jealousy over a long period of time. (Maciocia, p. 287-288)
» Bladder Xu (Deficiency) signs include lack of confidence; lethargy; neurological disorders; low sexual energy; incontinence (Seem, p. 29); epistaxis; frequent excessive urination; back pain; nocturnal enuresis; and fear.
» Bladder Shi (Excess) signs include agitation; excessive erections; prostatitis; frequent and urgent need to defecate; headaches on defecation (Seem, p. 29); headache; olfactory problems; pain along spine or waist; congestion in abdomen; insufficient and cloudy urine.
» Mental signs of Bladder channel disorders include changeable moods, over-enthusiasm, suspicion, jealousy, lack of confidence, and mental lassitude. (Seem, p. 28)
Liver ~ Gan is the home of the Hun (Ethereal Soul); it relates to decisiveness, control, and the principle of emergence; stores the Xue (Blood); maintains smooth flow of Qi and Xue (Blood); controls the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, especially the contractility of the muscles and moistening of the sinews; and reflects emotional harmony and movement.
» Healthy expressions are kindness, spontaneity, and ease of movement.
» Liver Xu (Deficiency) signs include impotence; frigidity; pain in thighs, pelvic region, and throat; ready tendency to "the blahs" (Seem, p. 28); timidity; depression; irritability; vertigo; pruritus; dry eyes, skin, and/or tendons; asthma; aching at the waist; hernia; and difficulty raising head up and down. Liver Xue Xu (Blood Deficiency) predisposes to Xue Yu (Blood Stasis).
» Liver Qi Stagnation reflects and accentuates emotional constraint as the Liver's function of facilitating smooth flow in the body is constricted. Stagnation is associated with frustration, irritability, tension, and feeling stuck. With time this pattern tends to produce a gloomy emotional state of constant resentment, repressed anger or depression, along with tightness in the chest, frequent sighing, abdominal tension or distension, and/or a feeling of a lump in the throat with difficulty in swallowing. (Maciocia, p. 216) Xue Yu (Blood Stasis) often begins with Qi Stagnation. Liver Yin Xu (Deficiency) predisposes to the Shi (Excess) conditions of Liver Wind, Liver Yang Rising, and Liver Fire Blazing.
» Liver Shi (Excess) signs include discontent; anger; pain in lumbar region and genitals (Seem, p. 28); muscular tension; excessive sex drive; insomnia; moodiness; excitability; genital diseases; red, tearing eyes; compulsive energy; and bitter taste in the mouth.
therapies
imagery:
Go into pain, and see, hear, feel what happens (pressure, pulling, rigidity) and follow to symbolic meaning. (Bry, p. 76)
beaver dammed (Chavez): liver-related tension
affirmation:
I trust the process of life. All I need is always taken care of. I am safe. (Hay, 1984, p. 154)
theotherapy:
Atlas, Hera, Prometheus, Zeus (Lemesurier, p. 89)
psychotherapy:
Those who are prone to inflammations are attempting to avoid conflicts. The following questions may be useful:
» What conflict in my life am I failing to see? hear? feel? move?
» What conflict am I dodging?
» What conflict am I failing to admit to? (Dethlefsen, p. 108)
process paradigm: (experientially oriented)
What is the symptom preventing me from doing? What is the symptom making me do? (related materia medica listings: musculoskeletal system interview)
related materia medica listings:
the shadow and physical symptoms
body reveals: the spirit
converting a symptom to a signal
state-dependent learning
imagery: precautions
imagery: techniques
affirmations: guidelines and precautions
theotherapy
process paradigm
footnotes
Reprinted from The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, Maciocia, Giovanni, 1989, by permission of the publisher Churchill Livingstone, a division of Elsevier Limited.