What Happens When You Fall, Get Hit, or Are Bitten?
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), there are unique terms that don't exist in Western medicine. One of these is "stagnant blood" (also known as blood stasis). Blood stasis can cause various problems in the body. One characteristic of blood stasis is severe pain at night. This condition disrupts normal blood circulation. For example, if there is stagnant blood around the neck, it can lead to issues in the head, arms, and hands. When it accumulates around the pelvis and sacrum, leg problems can occur, including varicose veins or spider veins. If there is stagnant blood in the back, it can block the nerves emerging from the spinal cord, causing nerve-related symptoms. Stagnant blood in the uterus can result in uterine fibroids.
How Does Blood Stasis Develop?
Physical Trauma: Blood stasis forms when we fall, are hit, or sustain injuries like sprains or bruises. Even surgery, which often leaves bruising, can lead to blood stasis. Although visible bruises eventually fade, the stagnant blood may remain in the body.
Extreme Stress: Intense stress can also suddenly cause blood stasis, particularly in the nape of the neck and upper back. This manifests as stiffness and pain in the neck and upper back.
Repetitive Muscle Use: Using the same muscles repetitively can lead to the formation of blood stasis. You may recall seeing round, dark marks on famous swimmer Michael Phelps—these cupping marks were signs of blood stasis.
What Happens if Blood Stasis Is Left Untreated?
Over time, stagnant blood can affect liver function, so treating the liver becomes essential. I once treated a patient who had fallen hard on her back at a swimming pool as a child. Although she experienced significant pain at the time, she received no treatment. Decades later, the untreated blood stasis had accumulated, causing her severe pain. When treated, an extraordinary amount of stagnant blood was released compared to other patients.
How Do We Treat Blood Stasis?
If you fall and injure your hip, hand, or knee, taking a herbal remedy for five days can eliminate the pain. However, if the injury is more severe and causes significant pain, treatment is necessary. Any injury that involves the bones also requires treatment.
While minor injuries may heal on their own without treatment, as I mentioned earlier, blood stasis does not naturally disappear. The pain may subside, but the stagnant blood remains and can cause further problems later on. Therefore, it’s best to take herbal medicine or seek treatment to remove it.
Methods for Treating Blood Stasis
One of the main methods used in TCM to treat blood stasis is Gua Sha (tapping therapy). Cupping, as mentioned earlier, is another technique used to clear stagnant blood. Based on my experience, cupping is effective in areas with little flesh or where the blood stasis is close to the skin's surface. However, it’s less effective in fleshier areas like the thighs, legs and buttocks. If the blood stasis is old and deeply layered, cupping can only remove the top layer, while deeper layers remain. This is why Gua Sha is essential in such cases.
There is one drawback to Gua Sha—it can be painful. The more blood stasis present, the more painful the treatment tends to be. However, the clear benefit is that it helps patients who have found no relief through other treatments finally overcome their pain.
