Jeepney Press / Marnie Chan

HEALTH POINTS by Marnie Chan

RIGHT SHOULDER PAIN

Right sided tightness or pain - either in the head, neck, shoulder, or in your back on the right side between your scapula and your spine [called the rhomboid by your anatomy teacher which you most likely already forgot]. A show of hands please…. Can’t raise your right arm in disgusting discomfort, eh? This is for you.

And no, it is not brought about by holy indignation. No need to self pontificate and ask, “Lord, why do the righteous suffer?”

Allow me to educate the righteous in a span of a few sec: you see, on the right side of the body [be it may a fat one or a skinny one] is an organ called the liver where bile is generated. Bile flows from the liver through a narrow tube till it masses together in a smaller place called the gallbladder. It is like bar hopping - from the biggest joint to the tiny, cozy one. In fact, bile gets to the pancreas too. Bile helps your body break down fats. Few things can disrupt this bar-hopping spree of bile: liver cirrhosis, fatty liver, bile backup, a stone, or sludge.

That’s the boring stuff our brains refused to memorize in stinky schools.

But here now is what’s more interesting, like juicy, unsubstantiated gossip…

If your untraceable shoulder pain is in your right side, there’s a disruption of bile ow going on. The slightest of these disruptions is the heavy build up of bile either in the liver itself or in the gallbladder. Here’s where it gets tricky, even an expensive MRI cannot detect this sludge.

And if the pain is in your left side, it’s your sexy pancreas, baby, causing the aches.

The ancient, white-flower smelling Chinese in their traditional way of doing medicine would call these excesses or blockages in specific scientifically - unprovable meridians. Funny and stupid may they sound, they are effin’ right!

You complain of a right shoulder pain and go to an acupuncturist and guess what? Needles are planted in the most unsuspecting areas of your body, depending on what was seen to be blocking or excessive. They treat meridians and in doing so they treat what ills you. Now, why do the righteous su er? We choose our own poisons, that’s why. Unsaturated fatty acids, chemicals in the food and drinks we consume, refined carbs.

Being obese is hard. Being and staying in shape is also hard. Choose your hard.

Poverty is hard. And so is busting sweats to eke out a living. Choose your hard.

Do I sound like your mom now?

Okay here… take purified bile salts. They are your magic pills. Consume salmon, sardines, cod liver oil, veggies [OH NOOOOO!!!], do regular intermittent fasting and periodic prolonged fasting.

Or, for those in the know: fanhoujue, sanchasan, shenguan, fenglong - your acupuncture points.

So there. You are welcome.

Let’s hack the body in the most magni cent ways!

#thehealingpowerofacupuncture