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Traditional Chinese medicine explains pain in its own terms, but new or severe pain still needs proper understanding. Here is how to describe yours clearly.

Traditional explanations and their place

Traditional Chinese medicine often describes pain in terms of blocked flow or a lack of nourishment to an area. These ideas can help explain a practitioner's reasoning, but they do not remove the need to work out what is happening when pain is new, intense or keeps returning. Some pain calls for imaging, blood tests or a specialist opinion, and your GP is an important part of that.

Describing the pain clearly

When you visit Dr Christine Shen, Acupuncturist, a clear account of the problem is more helpful than arriving with a technique in mind. Try to cover:

• exactly where the pain is and whether it spreads;
• when it started and what you were doing at the time;
• how it affects movement, work, exercise or sleep;
• what makes it ease or flare.

Be sure to mention any injury, fever, unexplained weight loss, numbness, weakness or other new symptoms. These details may mean another assessment should come first.

From description to plan

Once the picture is clear, Christine can talk about whether acupuncture, massage or another hands-on approach makes sense, and how you will both judge whether anything is changing. Having a simple way to review progress keeps the plan honest.

Choosing a realistic goal

Separate the pain itself from what you would like to be different. Perhaps you want to garden for an hour without stopping, to sleep through the night more often, or just to understand why your lower back flares after long drives. Knowing when to seek further medical assessment is also a useful outcome. Ask Christine how often the plan will be reviewed and what would make her suggest a new direction.

A simple pain diary kept for a week before your visit, noting times, activities and intensity, gives the Lane Cove clinic a much richer picture than memory alone.