If you have overactive bladder, then your urologist might offer you Percutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation (PTNS). This treatment is non-invasive, and aims to stimulate the tibial nerve that runs up the legs and into the sacrum at the lower back. The benefit of this therapy is that, if successful, then it can save you from having to try more invasive treatments.
If we look at the map of the tibial nerve and the map of the Kidney and Urinary Bladder meridians in acupuncture, then we can see that these are talking about the same pathways in the body. They run from the lower back down the back of the legs and into the ankle area.
PTNS involves using an acupuncture needle attached to a special device to add electrical stimulation. The needle is usually inserted in the acupuncture point called “Kidney 3”. The method aims to interrupt the signals that go from the sacrum into the bladder, to help it regulate the urge signals.
Acupuncture is part of Chinese Medicine, a vast body of knowledge that is thousands of years in the making.
We assess the whole body, and work with all of the systems to bring them back into alignment. The body is a natural system that thrives on alignment, because it uses cycles and rhythms to keep itself alive in the face of an ever-changing environment. When these cycles can be brought into resonance with each other, then the whole system can become like a well-tuned orchestra. This ideal is always our deepest aim.
So for example, along with noting that the Bladder is giving frequent signals to empty, we would also ask… why? What is the body trying to do?
The most common underlying reason is that it’s trying to get rid of something, but is unable to complete that movement. Usually it’s the presence of a kind of stickiness in the system, called Dampness in Chinese Medicine. While the body recognises the Dampness and wants to release it to the outside, the stickiness makes it hard to budge. Quite often, the body could release the Dampness by donating plenty of healthy fluids to escort the stickiness out, however, the body’s intelligence says that losing precious healthy fluids can make the whole system very vulnerable. So it makes the conservative decision to hold on to something that’s less than ideal, because it would be costly to remove it and there could be more sticky fluids still being generated.
So we help the body by figuring out why the stickiness is there, by helping it to create abundant healthy fluids, and by listening to its signals of readiness. When the body tells us it’s ready, then we encourage those sticky fluids to release. So there could be times in the treatment process where a person notices a temporary increase in urination. However, when we have our eye on the big picture, then we are not too concerned about this kind of “worsening” because we have an understanding and a strategy.
Most of the time, when we’re talking about sticky fluids versus healthy fluids, we will be focusing on the digestive system as the root of fluids. This is how multiple systems get woven into a treatment program, and the program is individualised to the person.
We don’t actually treat the condition called “overactive bladder”. Instead, we treat the person who has symptoms of overactive bladder alongside their unique “fingerprint” of signs and symptoms. It’s this “fingerprint” that we treat, not the disease label.
There could be other factors at play, such as lack of vital warmth, or the presence of irritating heat (similar to our idea of inflammation). So it’s very important to make a full assessment, and to continue to assess throughout the treatment process.
“Frequent urination” or “difficult urination” are symptoms given much attention in many ancient texts that are hundreds or thousands of years old, both for Chinese Herbal Medicine and for Acupuncture. Ensuring that the body has a steady flow of healthy vital fluids is key to recovery from many health issues, according to Chinese Medicine, as well as having a protective or preventative function.
Our aim is to leave the body less burdened, more free and more able to fulfil its ancient life-giving cycles and rhythms. We aim to tune in to where those movements are held back, and to give this incredibly intelligent system a helping hand.