Fear, Back Pain, & Winter . . . Happy Holidays

The holidays are an emotional rollercoaster. This year it was the first time my family has seen Mako because of restricted travel, safety, and Stephanie’s fears related to COVID. 

Fear is sometimes referenced as an acronym for; False Expectations Appearing Real. It is dismissed on 90’s t-shirts (NO FEAR,) and in the Ashtanga community, ‘Why fearing, you?’ as someone takes control of your body and limbs pulling you into a deep back bend.

Fear cause a releases of adrenalin in the body. Adrenalin is the ‘ACTION’ hormone. It causes the heart to race, pumps more blood into the muscles, shuts down the digestive system. Under this burst of adrenalin we breathe shallower, and faster, taking in more oxygen. Our eyes are dilated, and we listen more acutely. Fear is a healthy response, however, as we have discussed many times in the past that too much adrenalin fueled fear can over work the kidneys since the adrenal glands are located directly above the kidneys and the increased heart rate means more filtering for the kidneys to process.

Traditional Chinese Medicine links the emotion fear to the Foot Shao Yin channel, the channel that maintains fluid balance. Think, Kidneys, which happen to reside near the lumbar spine, the low back. This channel also happens to have the strongest effect during the winter time. Which at a basic understanding is why we tend to urinate more when it is colder. A more through understanding of this is because we sweat less during wet and cold months, and as a result less fluid is lost through the skin and so the body releases it through urine.

Because of the extra use of the kidneys during the winter time, any weakness in the Foot Shao Yin’s channel system will be highlighted during the wet and cold months. This means that, pre-existing weakness in the low back will roar up. Tinnitus, that high pitched ringing of the ears, maybe a dry throat, knee soreness, in some cases memory loss all can be heightened during the winter time. 

We do know that almost 70% of western civilized adults over 18 years of age have reported low back pain to their physician, and that 85% of those cases are nonspecific. (PMID: 33705610) Meaning that they cannot be attributed to, fractures, nerve compression, infection, inflammation, or a systemic disease. The first impulse of physicians is to prescribe narcotics, however chronic pain cannot be ‘cured.’ A more advantageous approach for patients with low back pain is to make lifestyle changes that allow the patient to adapt to this chronic pain so that it does not interfere with their lifestyle. (PMID: 11703580) 

Adaptations include, yoga, acupuncture, massage, and dietary changes. Yes, what you eat, can effect change on low back pain. For instance, a low purine diet reduces uric acid, which reduces taxation on the kidneys which filter the blood and remove the waste through urine. Purines are found in alcohol, organ meats, wild game meat, cauliflower, and spinach. If you have high levels of uric acid, oranges and tart cherries help to reduce it. There are also a number of wonderful herbal formulas that can assist and support the function of the kidneys. 

If you are like me, we spend the majority of our day eating, thinking about eating, or talking about eating. And especially with the holidays here, all we do is sit around with the family and eat! Foods like walnuts, black sesame seeds, blue and black berries, beans (especially black and kidney) are especially helpful for the kidneys and low back. My go to ‘nut milk’ this time of year is walnut milk with ginger and cinnamon sweetened with a few dates. (Sometimes I will add black sesame seeds to it for an added boost!)

In my yoga practice I focus more on maintaining. Since I have an Anterior Pelvic Tilt, I work on internal rotation of the legs in forward folds and rounding the lower back to lengthen the space between the lumbar spine. I also spend extra time in lateral stretches like Janu A, and Trikonasana to lengthen the QL muscle at the same time compressing the intestines to assist digesting the extra holiday food. I also take an herbal formula to support Kidney Yang function that warms the low back.

None of these remedies cure fear, but they do diminish the effects that fear has on the body. If you are experiencing emotional fears, please seek professional help, and give yourself support by eating nourishing foods, and doing physical activity that supports you. If you have questions about herbal formulas or what you can do in your practice to help, hop over to my acupuncture page @ www.socallifecenter.com