We see a lot of patients who turn to Chinese medicine to help with body pain and other symptoms that vary with the weather, from headaches to low back pain, sore knees, carpal tunnel or tennis elbow. While it may be a stereotype of the arthritic aches of elderly people, it is actually a fairly common phenomenon. Many chronic pain patterns and joint dysfunctions, in patients of all ages, tend to flare up when there are sudden weather fluctuations or periods of prolonged rain, humidity, cold or even heat. Why is that?
Western science doesn’t really have a great explanation for this. Despite research showing correlations “between pain and higher humidity, lower atmospheric pressure and higher wind speed,” scientists still can’t explain why or how weather should have any impact on joints and other pain symptoms, as this Harvard Health article admits.
Part of why I love Chinese Medicine is its holistic way of seeing the human within the greater context of our environment and understanding the microcosm-macrocosm relationships.
We diagnose many pain conditions as Bi, or “obstruction” problems related to Wind, Dampness, Cold or Heat. In some cases, they could be caused by external elements affecting the joints, such as an arthritic hairdresser whose hands are routinely submerged in cold water, or a surfer who surfs through the winter and throws out their back. Or they may just mimic the nature of these external elements and tend to get exacerbated by environmental changes.
What’s your body’s forecast: Wind, Dampness, Cold or Heat? Or a mix?
- Wind doesn’t always relate to the air that blows on you, but describes sudden change, or abrupt movements. In Wind patterns, symptoms may be exacerbated by windy conditions and air conditioning, or also sudden dramatic fluctuations in barometric pressure, or even sudden changes in personal life circumstances, like the “whirlwind” of chaotic events that might come with unexpected bad news (or even positive, but stressful events) that cause a crick in your neck. Wind conditions tend to move around, come and go, and change quickly. It may be the kind of pain that shows up in one place, resolves quickly, and then shows up somewhere else. There may be twitching, spasticity, or tremors. Wind loves to fill a vacuum, so when there’s a deficiency of blood or fluid in the system, people may be especially vulnerable to this element. When we treat Wind conditions, we may not bother treating the area of pain directly, since chasing the wind is usually futile.
- Dampness is a problem of excess fluids, fluids stagnating and not flowing, or fluids in the wrong place. Often dampness comes with swelling. Damp conditions usually develop gradually, are slow to change, and slow to improve. Movement might feel difficult or blocked, but usually, if a patient can push through and get moving, they will feel better after getting fluids to circulate. Dampness can be tricky and might sometimes look dry- like a lack of synovial fluid. This is because compromised fluid circulation will lead to a lack of physiologic fluids in the right place, and pathological fluids in the wrong place.
- Cold makes particles slow down and contract. When water freezes, it’s solid, unmoving. Likewise, Cold, as a disease factor, relates to conditions that make things stop. Besides actual cold in our environment, this could also be sudden shocks that put us into a freeze response, or abrupt physical trauma that leads to a lack of circulation. Cold has long been a foundation of the R.I.C.E – Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation – theory for treating acute injuries. But there has finally been more debate about this approach, and many Western practitioners are starting to rethink ice. While ice may slow down nerve signaling and help numb pain, it may not be doing much to help tissue healing. Some argue that it reduces inflammation, but the inflammatory response to an acute injury is a critical step in the healing process. In Chinese Medicine, we usually try to first distinguish the nature of the pain before advising if ice is appropriate.
- Heat makes particles speed up. It’s also expansive. Heat conditions may look like an excess of inflammation. There may be swelling, redness, infection, or burning sensations. It’s when this inflammatory response becomes excessive and obstructs healing, that ice or cold therapy might be helpful. Heat also has a drying effect, and so may go along with a loss of fluid in the joints, and a brittle quality to the muscles.
- Combined patterns are common, and can create complexes that correspond to a mix of the characteristics described above.
When we see a strong elemental component to a pain condition, we customize your treatment plan accordingly. Besides acupuncture, we have several other treatment modalities that let us target each of these conditions. We may use gua sha to dispel wind from the surface. Moxibustion (moxa) helps to warm a cold condition, or dry a damp one. We can use bleeding and cupping to clear heat. We can also prescribe topical and internal herbs that help your body to balance out these elements and to make you more resilient when the weather is not on your side.
If your pain forecast isn’t looking good, schedule an appointment to see how acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can help.
