Nerve Pain: When Your Nerves Are Sending the Wrong Signals
Understanding Nerve Pain Through the Lens of Chinese Medicine
How Acupuncture and Herbs Can Help Calm the Signals and Restore Balance
Nerve pain can feel sharp, burning, electric, or stabbing—and it often defies explanation or predictable triggers. It can be constant or intermittent, worsened by movement or touch, and stubbornly resistant to typical pain medications.
In biomedicine, nerve pain is associated with conditions like trigeminal neuralgia, Bell’s palsy, peripheral neuropathy, or post-herpetic neuralgia. But Chinese medicine offers a different way of understanding these sensations—one that looks at not just the location and intensity of pain, but the pattern and the person experiencing it.
Signs Your Pain May Be Nerve-Related:
Burning, tingling, or stabbing sensations
Pain that comes and goes or arrives in sharp waves
Hypersensitivity—even light contact feels uncomfortable
Numbness or a “pins and needles” feeling
Pain that follows a distinct pathway (like down the leg, arm, or along the face)
Pain that lingers after infection or trauma (like shingles or surgery)
A Pattern-Based Approach to Nerve Pain
Chinese medicine doesn’t label pain as “neuropathy” or “nerve damage” in the Western sense. Instead, we identify patterns based on the channels involved, constitutional tendencies, and what makes symptoms better or worse.
For example:
Wind and Phlegm Obstruction may show up as sudden, shifting nerve pain (think: facial paralysis or post-viral symptoms).
Blood or Yin Deficiency may lead to numbness or dull, aching nerve discomfort—especially worse at night.
Cold Obstruction in the Channels may create sharp, stabbing pain that improves with warmth.
Heat or Damp-Heat may cause burning, inflamed sensations that worsen with pressure or activity.
We also distinguish between involvement of the primary channels, sinew channels, and collateral vessels, which gives us a much more refined map of how pain is moving through the body.
Acupuncture for Nerve Health
Acupuncture helps regulate channel flow, reduce inflammation, and restore normal signaling in the nervous system. Specific point combinations are chosen based on the pattern and location of pain—not just the diagnosis. Treatments may include techniques like moxibustion, cupping, or gua sha to address deeper obstructions or cold in the channels.
Over time, acupuncture has been shown to promote:
Nerve regeneration and repair
Improved blood and fluid flow to nourish affected areas
Down-regulation of pain signaling in the central nervous system
Reduction in inflammation and swelling
Herbal Medicine for Nerve Pain
Chinese herbal medicine offers a wealth of options for supporting nerve health—internally and topically. Just like with acupuncture, formulas are chosen based on the individual's pattern, not just the symptoms.
Here are some examples of how we might use herbs:
🪷 To nourish blood and yin (for deficient, dull, or numb pain):
Dang Gui (Angelica sinensis) – Tonifies and moves blood
Bai Shao (White Peony) – Softens the Liver, nourishes yin and blood
Ji Xue Teng (Spatholobus) – Promotes circulation and nourishes the channels
🔥 To clear heat and reduce inflammation (for burning or post-infectious pain):
Huang Qin (Scutellaria) – Clears heat, calms irritability
Zhi Mu (Anemarrhena) – Cools and moistens
Lian Qiao (Forsythia) – Clears toxic heat lingering in the channels
💨 To dispel wind and phlegm (for sudden or erratic nerve dysfunction):
Tian Ma (Gastrodia) – Calms internal wind, useful in facial paralysis
Jiang Can (Silkworm) – Transforms phlegm and wind, often used post-viral
Bai Fu Zi (Typhonium) – Strongly disperses wind in sinews and collaterals
❄️ To warm and unblock cold stagnation (for stabbing or cold-sensitive pain):
Fu Zi (Aconite) – Restores yang, warms the channels
Gui Zhi (Cinnamon twig) – Warms and moves
Rou Gui (Cinnamon bark) – Deep warming, supports blood movement
🧴 Topical Herbs and Liniments:
Topical applications like Zheng Gu Shui, San Huang San, or custom liniments may be used to reduce local pain, improve microcirculation, and support nerve recovery. We often use them in tandem with internal herbs and acupuncture for a more comprehensive approach.
Beyond Symptom Relief
When someone walks in with nerve pain, we're not just asking, Where does it hurt? We're asking:
When did this start?
What makes it better or worse?
What’s going on in the rest of your body?
Is there a history of trauma, illness, or depletion?
Chinese medicine gives us the tools to treat not only the branch (the pain) but also the root (the underlying imbalance), while honoring the body’s innate healing capacity.
Let’s Find Relief—Together
If nerve pain is interfering with your life—whether it’s something you’ve been living with for years or a more recent onset—there are gentle, effective, and deeply personalized ways to help you heal.
Text or call for a free consultation.
We’ll listen to your story, assess your unique pattern, and create a treatment plan tailored to you—rooted in thousands of years of wisdom and clinical experience.
