If you spend any time around Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) you will hear practitioners talk about ‘Wind’. It sounds poetic, but it describes something quite practical, and in the middle of a Sydney winter it is worth understanding.
What does Wind mean in TCM?
In classical Chinese medicine, Wind is the name given to illness that arrives suddenly and from the outside, the way a gust arrives: colds, flus, a stiff neck that appears overnight. The texts call Wind “the leader of the hundred diseases” because it was seen to open the door for other problems to enter.
The back of the neck and the tops of the shoulders are considered the most Wind-vulnerable area of the body. Several of the acupuncture points there carry Wind in their names: Wind Pond (Gallbladder 20) and Wind Gate (Urinary Bladder 12) among them. It is no coincidence that a chill or a draught on the back of the neck so often precedes a cold or a seized-up neck.
The practical advice: cover your neck
This is why the traditional advice in winter is disarmingly simple: wear a scarf. Keep the back of the neck covered and warm, especially on windy days, when leaving a heated building, or after training when you are sweaty and the pores are open. Grandmothers across Asia have been giving this advice for centuries, and I pass it on to my patients every winter.
At the first signs of a cold
When that tell-tale chill and neck stiffness arrive, TCM has a traditional first response: release the Wind points. This is exactly what gua sha (scraping) at home is for, worked over the neck and shoulder area. A warm shower, an early night and a warming meal support the same goal.
If winter tends to knock you around every year, or neck and shoulder tension is a constant companion, a course of acupuncture may assist with the muscular tension side of the picture, and we can look at the pattern behind it together.
Stay warm out there, Ahil.
Any questions or to book in, feel free to contact Ahil at the Alexandria clinic on (02) 9341 5775 or by email at ahilnaturopath@gmail.com.
Ahil Naturopath/Acupuncture is a clinic located near Redfern, Alexandria and Waterloo. We also service areas across Sydney including Botany, Camperdown, Darlinghurst, Erskineville, Eveleigh, Mascot, Newtown, Rosebery, Surry Hills and Zetland.
We offer Acupuncture, Naturopathy, Herbal medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Cupping, Gua Sha (Scraping) and Moxibustion services in South-East, Eastern and Inner City of Sydney.