Back ache

There are many different types of back ache. Yesterday evening I had a deep ache across the top of my back, just below the lower part of the shoulder blades. Because of the nature of the pain and its location, it was clear to me that it was due to blocked Liver energy (Liver Qi Stagnation), rather than being a muscular problem or due to a chill.

For me, this was a fascinating insight. Initially, I had thought that I might have picked it up from a patient. Earlier that afternoon I had given a treatment to a friend. He also had a back ache, but of a different nature. But with him, blocked Liver energy would have also played a big part in causing his symptoms. During the acupuncture session, I had also done some Reiki, and afterwards it occurred to me that I may have picked up my back ache from him due to me ‘connecting’ with his energy. In the past, this sort of transfer of symptoms from patients to me had been a big problem, but since having the Reiki attunements done on myself, I had thought that this problem had passed.

The next morning, this ache had gone from my back completely and various things convinced me that it had come from a different source. It had, indeed, been due to a blockage in my own Liver energy, but this had not been caused by me giving the treatment to my friend.

The day before the ache had started, I had felt depressed for most of the day, due to a romantic difficulty. On the following day, the depression had become a mere feeling of melancholy. That evening, while nursing my aching back, I had a long phone chat with the object of my romantic difficulties, and we managed to clear up all the uncertainties, which made us both feel a lot better. I also needled various Liver points on myself (one on my left wrist, P-6, and some on my legs, LIV-3 and GB-34). The next morning, my back felt completely normal. And my Liver pulse was much more normal as well, which confirmed the diagnosis. The day before, my Liver pulse had been very deep, ‘deficient’ and wiry. But it was now a much more normal level, and flowing smoothly. One this second morning, my eyes were sore, which was the only symptom I had been left with; this had not been there the day before, but I knew that it was connected with this problem in the Liver energy (there is a very strong link between the Liver and the eyes), so I knew that it would clear itself up if I just left it, which indeed it did within an hour or two.

What was fascinating for me was that this was the first time that I had noticed this specific mechanism in myself: becoming emotionally depressed, then my Liver energy becoming blocked as a result, then this blocked Liver energy producing a physical symptom, the ache in my back, over the Liver points (BL-18).

There is a reciprocal relationship between these factors with all the organs. In the case of the Liver, its energy becoming blocked often leads to a low mood or depression (or it can also produce abdominal cramps, or headaches or migraines, or even digestive disturbances). Conversely, when one becomes depressed, this can lead to the Liver energy becoming blocked, which may then produce any of the above symptoms. It was fascinating to observe this process within myself; and, of course, clinically useful for me, as any firsthand experience into the workings of the body are (that is, the true workings of the body, as described by Chinese medicine and some other real healing disciplines. Needless to say, this does not include ‘biomedicine’).

 

29 December 2008