Acupuncturists spend more time trying to ease a patient's pain than anything else. We may use a variety of methods ranging from traditional Chinese acupuncture to symptomatic modern Western "pin pricking" to achieve our goals. In each and every case of pain relief, however, it is the symptoms of pain and discomfort that are addressed and not the cause. A typical scenario is that we spend a couple of sessions using local/distal acupuncture to ease discomfort followed by several more to try and address the etiology. I have devised a method whereby the pain and the etiology may be treated at the same time.
The Minor Chakras
Minor Chakras are energetically powerful acupoints that are "reflected points" of the seven major chakras having similar properties to their more illustrious counterparts. They are, though, much easier to use with acupuncture than the Majors. Traditionally there are 21 Minor Chakras although the Spleen chakra is not used in pain relief. I have always maintained that a high percentage of medical (and even musculo-skeletal) conditions are caused by emotional imbalance. If the chakra energies are balanced and treated correctly, the origin of the illness is addressed as each of the acupoints is linked with various emotional, endocrine and autonomic nerve imbalances. I am utterly convinced that by just treating the pain syndrome and ignoring the underlying cause, a great injustice is being done to the patient.
The 20 minor chakra acupoints described are generally found on the periphery of the body. They are as follows:
Foot chakra - KI 1
Hand chakra - PC 8
Knee chakra - BL 40
Elbow chakra - PC 3
Groin chakra - ST 30
Clavicular chakra - KI 27
Shoulder chakra - LI 15
Navel chakra - KI 16
Ear chakra - TE 17
Intercostal chakra -SP 21
For the purposes of pain relief they may be coupled together as follows:
Key Points
When starting my investigation into this field of research, I soon realized that it wasn't just a question of needling the Minor Chakras to affect pain relief. I needed something else to accompany these points. I took my cue from studying the eight extraordinary meridians with their associated key points that "open up" the channel. I discovered that each of the Minor Chakras has its own dedicated Key point that is used to facilitate and enhance the treatment in a similar way to that of the extraordinary meridians. The Key points have no obvious logical anatomical positions and just have to be learnt.
Regions
For the purposes of using the Minor Chakras in pain relief, the body is divided into five different areas that are associated with a set of coupled Minor Chakras – each called a Region. To use each Region you need to know the following:
Region One |
Region Two |
Region Three |
Region Four |
Region Five |
Hand chakra – PC 8
Key point – KI 3
Foot chakra – KI 1
Key point – HT 6
Region Two – Elbow and Knee chakras
Elbow chakra – PC 3
Key point – BL 59
Knee chakra – BL 40
Key point – SI 7
Region Three – Groin and Clavicular chakras
Groin chakra – ST 30
Key point – PC 7
Clavicular chakra – KI 27
Key point – LR 8
Region Four – Shoulder and Navel chakras
Shoulder chakra – LI 15
Key point - ST 40
Navel chakra – KI 16
Key point LI 11
Region Five – Ear and Intercostal chakras
Ear chakra – TE 17
Key point – TE 4
Intercostal chakra – SP 21
Key point – GB 37
The illustration shows each Region with the areas of pain relief dedicated to each one.
Technique
Brief Case History
Angela, 54, saw me with a painful and movement restricted right shoulder of non accidental cause that had gotten worse over a period of 2 years. Physical therapy and medication had all proved ineffectual. She also had a history of a sluggish bowel and lower cervical spine stiffness. I treated her with Region 4 protocol (LI 15; KI 16; ST 40 and LI 11) and some gentle mobilizing. On the second session the pain had reduced by 50% (4/10 as opposed to 8/10) and she had more movement. I used exactly the same treatment as before. A week later she reported that the pain was now 1/10 and had been swimming to try and help the range of movement. She was discharged as fit a week later.
Pain relief using the Minor Chakras represents just one aspect of what may be achieved using the chakra energy system. For detailed accounts of using this remarkable healing modality with acupuncture or bodywork see my books published by North Atlantic Books - detailed below.
References
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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