Pain is the number one reason for consultation, accounting for almost two-thirds of all medical consultations, particularly in Europe. It is therefore an essential and delicate element in patient care.

Generally speaking, pain is something unpleasant that happens in the body. But it is also, at the same time, a personal and therefore subjective mental experience.

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) describes pain as “an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with present or potential tissue damage.”

This means that pain, in addition to indicating physical damage (potential or present), is, like its opposite, pleasure, a subjective emotional attitude, which triggers and shapes behavior. Pain is therefore neither a simple perception nor a purely physical sensation. It is fundamentally a mental state.

According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), pain is generally a sign of energy blockage. However, this varies according to the location of the pain and its causes. TCM classifies pain according to whether it is

• permanent or intermittent ;
• whether it corresponds to painful numbness and swelling in the joints;
• whether it is due to overpressure, spasm, irradiation, etc.

The problem is complex. Pain will be treated by unblocking blocked meridians, expelling excess or mucus and releasing blood stagnation.

For long-term pain, acupuncture and/or Chinese herbal medicine are used to reduce pain levels and provide relief. Moxibustion, massage and cupping are also widely used to relieve pain. Pain rarely occurs on its own; it is usually symptomatic of an energy imbalance, which the diagnosis will detect.

According to TCM, the concept of pain can be divided into two main syndromes: tòng (emptiness) or bì (blockages).

Bì are painful obstructions of the meridians caused by a combination of three perverts, also known as the “three demons”: Wind, Cold and Humidity.

Bì syndrome affects the skin, muscles, vessels, tendons, bones and meridians.

Poor lifestyle and social or dietary habits can impede the circulation of blood and qi in the meridians, thus favoring the onset of Bì-type illnesses.

Tong syndrome, on the other hand, most often stems from internal causes.

It occurs in the Five Organs and Six Entrails. It is also found in the “particular Entrails”: Brain, Marrow, Bones, Vessels, Gallbladder and Uterus. Here, we often diagnose a Yin vacuum, a Yang vacuum, a Qi vacuum or a Blood vacuum (or a combination of all four).

The functions of the human body, whether organic or psychic, are linked together in perpetual motion. Any slowing down or blockage (痹 – bì) of movement in any of the body’s functions can lead to pain.

Pain is therefore a vast subject insofar as it covers multiple realities. We must therefore distinguish :

• where it occurs (outside or inside the body),
• its origin: external (meridians) or internal (organs [qìguān] and viscera [zāngfǔ]),
• its type: emptiness or fullness,
• its nature: acute or chronic, etc.

Here too, the list is long, and taking an anti-inflammatory won’t solve the root of the problem. It’s essential to see pain as an alarm bell that should draw our attention to a change in our lifestyle.