From the Chinese viewpoint, patients who present with neck, lumbago or sciatic pain are usually diagnosed as suffering from a type of bi syndrome. Bi syndromes involve blockage and pain; that is, there may be little apparent reason for the occurrence, though a significant injury to the back/neck would be an obvious cause. From the period of the Neijing (ca. 100 B.C.) to the present, bi syndrome has been said to be induced mainly by the influences of cold, damp, and wind. Pain can be attributed to a combination of cold and dampness: these are yin factors. Wind, an external pathogenic factor of mysterious nature is thought to carry the pathogenic influences into the body and contribute to the variable nature of the pain.
Internally, a deficiency of kidney yang can give rise to cold and damp syndromes affecting the spine. In this case, external wind may not be a factor in causing the pain, though it can still combine with cold and dampness to exacerbate the underlying condition. Chinese herbal therapies for neck, shoulder, sciatica and lumbago usually involve warming the kidney yang, dispelling chill, clearing dampness (usually by invigorating the spleen function), and resolving wind-cold-damp complexes (e.g., relying on certain “antirheumatic” herbs) and Acupuncture.
Acupuncture will resolve shoulder, neck and back pain very quickly acute or chronic types. Removing obstructions in the meridians and pathogens out of the body offers a patient a successful remedy to restricted mobility. A healthy diet and varied exercise is also recommended to prevent poor mobility and patients over working are recommended to rest and destress.
