Back, neck and nerve pain

Western Pain from muscles, joints, discs and nerves, usually in layers, and often driven from somewhere other than where it hurts.

Classical 水 Pain as obstruction: qi, blood or the tissue has stopped moving, read by channel, by pattern and by what eases it.

Often with Dry needling, Active Release, Functional movement

Western Mechanical pain from lumbar muscles, joints, discs or the sacroiliac joint, often loaded by the hips or upper back.

Classical 水 Stasis in the Bladder channel and Governing vessel, over a Kidney root that shows when the pain keeps returning.

Often with Dry needling, Active Release, Functional movement

Neck and upper back pain

Western Strain of the neck and upper back muscles and small joints, often driven by desk posture, sleep position or an old injury.

Classical 木 Obstruction in the Tai Yang and Shao Yang channels of the nape, often with wind-cold or constrained Liver qi on top.

Often with Dry needling, Active Release, Functional movement

Western Pain along the sciatic nerve from a disc at the root, the piriformis in the buttock, or pain referred by the SI joint.

Classical 水 Obstruction along the Bladder or Gallbladder channel of the leg, often wind, cold and damp with stasis.

Often with Dry needling, Active Release, Electro-acupuncture

Western A nerve compressed or irritated at the spine (radiculopathy) or along its path through muscle, fascia or a tunnel.

Classical 木 Obstruction along a channel and its sinew channel: numbness as qi and blood not arriving, sharp pain as stasis.

Often with Dry needling, Active Release, Electro-acupuncture

Western Neuropathic pain: pain from an irritated or sensitized nerve, felt as burning, electric, tingling or numb.

Classical 木 Numbness as qi and blood not reaching the flesh; darting pain as wind; fixed burning pain as stasis in the collaterals.

Often with Dry needling, Electro-acupuncture, Active Release

Bulging and herniated discs

Western A disc whose outer ring bulges, or whose center pushes through it, sometimes irritating the nerve root beside it.

Classical 水 Stasis at the injured level over Kidney and Liver depletion, read through the Governing vessel and Bi patterns.

Often with Dry needling, Electro-acupuncture, Active Release

Western Narrowing of the spinal canal or nerve openings, usually age-related, that can crowd the spinal cord or nerve roots.

Classical 水 Kidney and Liver depletion beneath, with qi, blood and damp obstructing the channel at the narrowed level.

Often with Dry needling, Electro-acupuncture, Functional movement

Western A sideways curve of the spine with some rotation, structural in the bones or functional from muscle imbalance.

Classical 水 Uneven sinews along the Governing vessel and Bladder channel, over the Kidney that governs bone.

Often with Dry needling, Master Tung's acupuncture, Functional movement

Carpal tunnel and hand numbness

Western The median nerve crowded at the wrist, or a hand nerve caught higher up at the elbow, chest or neck.

Classical 木 Qi and blood stasis in the Pericardium, Heart and Lung channels of the wrist, often with damp.

Often with Dry needling, Active Release, Electro-acupuncture

Western A tight or overworked piriformis muscle in the buttock irritating the sciatic nerve that runs beneath it.

Classical 木 Stasis in the Gallbladder channel and its sinew channel at the hip, often over Liver blood too thin to nourish the sinews.

Often with Dry needling, Active Release, Electro-acupuncture