Causes And Pathogenesis Of Pain In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Clinical Practice

Objective: The present work is of great significance to the clinical study of painmanagement in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), including the causes of pain,medication and other theoretical and practical ways to reduce patient pain.Methods: We use theoretical research integrated with clinical case studies, conduct athorough investigation of pain types, suppplemented by our own clinical investigations.1. Theoretical study: The research draws on analysis of the Emperor’s canon ofinternal medicine, the Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and other ancient texts, as wellas modern TCM work of the last ten years. The origin and development of pain, its causeand pathogenesis are synthesized to form a significant and central contribution to thereduction of pain in clinical practice.2. Clinical investigation: a number of outpatient case studies from Taiwan TCMpractice are presented, analyzed and discussed.Results:1. Theoretical study: From analysis of the Emperor’s canon of internal medicine, theTreatise on Cold Damage Disorders and other ancient texts, as well as modern TCM workof the last ten years, demonstrated that pain can be categorized as “butongzetong”(blockedtissues lead to pain) and “burongzetong”(tissue leads the pain weakly). Causes can besummarized as pertaining internally to the7emotional states (qixing), and externally to the6excesses (liuyin). Effects can also be ascribed to poor nutrition and tiredness. Clinicalevidence and specimen-based study enabled discussion on the significance andmanagement of pain.2. Clinical investigation: in the173cases investigated, females were more likely tosuffer pain than men. Disease onset tended to take place between the ages of31and60 years. Little seasonal variation was observed. The had and neck were the most frequentlyobserved pain sites. Tiredness and sudden changes of temperature tended to exacerbatesymptoms.166cases (that is,51.56%of the total) were ascribed to the “burongzetong”category, while blocked meridians (“butongzetong”) were responsible for139cases(43.16%), that is, both types of blockage applied. The aggregate for all three types ofblockage is therefore305cases, or94.72%of the total. Thus it can be seen that meridianand similar blockage accounts for almost all pain cause and pathogenesis in the study.Conclusion: meridian and related blockages are responsible for much pain cause andpathogenesis, including deficiency of qi, deficiency of yin, hematoma, wet phlegm, whichall were significant. A wide range of pain types was observed, and a variety of treatmentmeasures need to be adopted for effective pain management to eventuate.