Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a puzzling illness and one that is very uncommon in China. Since the illness is characterised by periods of remission and flare-ups it is more difficult to monitor progress.

MS is a chronic disorder of the nervous system that typically affects young and middle-aged adults. It is the commonest major disorder of the nervous system in the Western world, affecting about 1 in 2000 people in the UK. The cause is still uncertain however it does seem that there is an inherited susceptibility to the disease. Intriguingly, MS is much more common in temperate regions than in the tropics.

The course of the disease is notoriously unpredictable, but it often shows a pattern of relapse and remission, with a variety of nervous system symptoms.

Within Chinese Medicine we define the disease process in terms of four stages, each corresponding to different levels.

At stage one there are no current symptoms. There may have been several episodes of symptoms in the past and these may have left some remnants of imbalance, but not enough to produce symptoms associated with M.S.

At stage two there are some symptoms however these manifest in the acupuncture channels at a more superficial level and so the disease progress has not gone deeper into the body. Often there is a sudden onset of symptoms with acute symptoms, usually with localised areas affected.

Stages three and four show the progression of the illness deeper into the body.

The role of acupuncture

The principle of acupuncture treatment is to maintain the patient in stage one for as long as possible (i.e. the period of remission). If the disease does enter stage two then acupuncture aims to alleviate the symptoms whilst helping prevent the patient from entering stage three.

There is a similar process for stages three and four. At stage three, acupuncture treatment is aimed at strengthening the organs which have been affected and trying to bring the disease process back to stage two and then back into stage one.

Using this staging theory it is possible to manage M.S. and have a clear diagnosis tool to understand exactly how severe the illness is at any particular time. The obvious aim is to maintain the patient in stage one, and the longer this can be achieved then the better the outcome.