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Pain is caused by blockages in the flow of Qi and blood and that translates into inflammation and accumulation of toxins as well. How do we get rid of those blockages? We’re going to talk about how to alleviate pain through the 5 Elements Chinese medicine.
Oftentimes in 5 Element acupuncture you can often resolve an issue using just one acupuncture point! A lot can be addressed using a Shu Stream Point.
In 5 Element medicine, there are points called Shu Stream points that exist in a pattern that go from a small stream into a large flowing giant rivers flooding into a sea.
The Shu Stream points are made up of these on each limb. For example, at the thumb you have the Jing Well point, then we have Ying Spring point, then we have a Shu Stream point, then Jing River point, then He Sea point at the elbow. The Sea is where all the flow is going.
“The point at which the Qi rises is called Jin Well, Qi glides Ying sprint, Qi pours through Shu Stream, Qi flows Jing River, and Qi enters inwards is He Sea.”
SHU STREAM POINTS
Yin meridian (Zang meridians) We started with:
- Wood = Jing Well
- Fire = Ying spring
- Earth = Shu Stream
- Metal = Jing River
- Water = He Sea
Yang meridian (Fu meridians):
- Metal= Jing Well
- Water = Ying spring
- Wood= Shu Stream
- Fire= Jing River
- Earth = He Sea
Jing Well Points: They are indicated for psychological problems, mental illness, fullness under the heart, heavy chest. In an emergency and if someone is having a heart attack or chest pain, they can bite their Jing Well point to stimulate it to stop the heart attack. The point for the heart is HT9 which is on the inside (radial side) of the little finger. The Jing Well is at the tip of the finger where the side of the nail and the cuticle cross.
Ying Spring: toxic heat, fever, face redness. Hot pain.
Shu Stream: heaviness, obstruction (Bi pain) including joint pain, wind and damp (accumulation of fluid). Wind is movement – trembling, tremors. Edema is accumulation of fluid. Heaviness is damp accumulation. Shu Stream point BL65 is the wood point in the Bladder. Sedation point for Water. If you stimulate the child point in the Mother than you sedate the mother.
Jing River: is indicated for coughing, asthma, breathing issues, chills, alternating hot and cold, voice sound changes.
He Se: indicated for rebellious Qi. Fu organs such as intestines and stomach (hollow organs) are involved – they have fluid movement. Nausea, dizziness, diarrhea.
Examples:
Hot Pain: Say someone has excess heat and it is painful to the touch (that is an excess condition). From the Shu Stream points, it is the Ying Spring that is needed (see above). On the yin meridians those are fire points and on the yang meridian they are water. One of the Yin is ST 44 and is well known to drain heat. If we used a yin yang pair in earth for the yin spring action, we’d use Spleen 2 with ST 44 (water point). The paradigm just tells you which point to use but not the actual Qi flow in the meridian.
- White icewave on right ST 44 and Tan on left spleen 2. (both ying spring earth elements)
Damp pain: achy all over, worse with rainy weather and sugar and cheese. You would use Shu Stream – Spleen 3 TAN on the left and ST 43 WHITE on the right. Spleen time is 9am – 11 am. That is when spleen Qi is the highest in the meridian. The best time to stimulate Spleen 3 as a shu stream and horary (Chinese clock of meridians) point to deal with this damp pattern would be between 9-11AM.
Cold Pain: Jing River points are indicated. For lung issues left Lung 8 TAN and right Large intestine 5 WHITE. Breathing problems and “cold” deficiency pain. It is opposite of excess heat. So it is white and cold. When you touch it and push on it, it feels better and it is more painful when left alone. Spleen 5 and Stomach 41 would help spleen deficiency. When you’re exercising you’re moving Qi and blood and the increase of blood flow will make it feel better.
Wind Pain: Itching, some headaches (if worse when in the wind). The movement of the yang coming off rises and it hits the head and that excess causes blockages in the head causing headaches. WHITE on left Liver 3 and WHITE on right Gallbladder 41 is a good Shu Stream point combination to use. It is really good for liver stagnation.
You use combinations if you have damp-heat pain or damp-cold pain or wind-cold pain. Spleen 9 is a he se point to resolve obstruction of movement in the hollow organs can cause pain to release the excess damp.
Spleen 21 is great for movement of Qi from legs and arms and chest.
Today’s Question:
- Are there any acupuncture points to help support hair growth on the head and lashes? Tonify kidneys BL23 and kidney 3. Use Energy Enhancer patches. For lashes, you might want to try Spleen 6 or Lung points.
- Are there any acupuncture points that would help support the body’s natural healing of thickened toe nails? Damp heat is the most common issues. For damp, we can use BL65 and for the heat ST 44.
- What’s the difference between holographic discs, magnets, and Lifewave patches? There isn’t a lot of clinical data backing up the safety and effectiveness of holographic discs and magnets, so Dr. Karen says to be cautious. The LifeWave phototherapy patches work using biological frequencies and not a singular frequency such as magnets and with over 70 studies conducted to prove efficacy and safety, it is the product she trusts.
- Rib pain on the left side below rib cage. If below the ribs than the command point is ST 36 on icewave white on right and tan on left. Or you can treat the painful area using the Clock Method in the brochure (or bracket the pain). You can also use Aeon, Glutathione on top of the white patch for extra support.
- Feeling like she is getting a cold and a pain in the front of the rib on the right. Put Glutathione on throat chakra CV 22 and carnosine at CV17 middle for the chest. They have powerful antioxidants that stimulate the immune system. Glutathione regenerates Vitamin C and other antioxidants. You can also use Spleen 21 to get the Qi moving in the chest as an addition with Energy Enhancer or IceWave. A wind cold invasion – runny nose, stiff neck, no sore throat yet you can use a tea called Cong Bi Tong (white scallion tea, fresh ginger root and fermented soy (diuresis)). A wind heat issues is when the sore throat has started already (Yin Qiao San). You can use colloidal silver as well with effect. GB 20 indicated for wind
