Winston Lee L. Ac, Ph.D, KMD
We usually tend to focus more on the patient’s symptoms than it’s root cause. Practically speaking, we need to produce instant and positive improvement. This effort pays financially to the clinic.
However, we experience many unexpected variables when treating patients. One may recover from a symptom with fewer treatments, where another may require multiple sessions to relieve the same symptoms. Certain patients may even feel worse afterwards
Why?
We should take a close look at the underlying causes by asking a few but essential questions
The first question I ask is the patient’s job. In all work, there is a physical routine we perform and this leads to an injury directly or indirectly. If they work in an office fixed to a computer, needing to hold a certain posture all day, I would assume they would have neck, shoulder issues, and even headaches. Lower back pain is also very common to the sedentary lifestyle. Personally, I categorize housewife as another labor-intensive job like a chef, janitor, or house movers. Lifting and washing a baby, cooking, moving objects, and cleaning all require a great amount of physical activity. These labor-intensive jobs commonly cause muscular or skeletal injury i.e., rotator cuff injury, neck muscle spasm, meniscus(knee) injury, golfer’s elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, and even dis herniation at the lumbar spine.
The next question to ask is, eating habits. Too busy to eat breakfast? People that skip breakfast have a higher chance of getting gastritis than others according to statistics. Snacking regularly between meals or stressed while eating? This group is the most common group to have acid reflux or heartburn. In my experience, patients with acid reflux usually skip breakfast, barely eat lunch, but will have a big dinner late at night. And after having eaten such a large meal late in the evening, they would fall asleep on a full stomach. Our organs should be resting during our sleep, but with a full stomach, our stomach, intestines, pancreas and liver are working overtime. So in the morning the body is exhausted from having no rest. This eating habit usually causes chronic fatigue syndrome(CFS).
According to Mayo Clinic, CFS is a, “complicated disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that can’t be explained by any underlying medical condition. The fatigue may worsen with physical or mental activity, but doesn’t improve with rest.” And this condition is also known as systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID) or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
I also ask a patient’s hobby such as what kind of sports or weekend activity he or she enjoys. If there is no problem in the job or eating habits, my next usual suspect is the sport or activity. A female patient told me that she has no special hobbies. But I was shocked after finding out that she was a semi-professional triathlon runner with plenty of finisher medals. A late 80 year old patient had a chronic serious elbow pain for a couple of years and had gotten several steroid shots for it. Then I find out that he has been playing golf three times a week and is walking those 18 holes. I always remind myself, “There is no pain without reason”.
Unless pain is due to something contagious or an infectious reason, I think any medical disorder has a specific cause that had originated from the patient’s lifestyle. All acupuncturists should try to look for that reason like a detective, based on your experience and knowledge and be creative with the investigation. I believe that figuring out the patient’s wrong habits is the key to prevention. Not to mention that it is important for a patient to maintain a healthy positive state even after the symptoms have gone.
