Chronic pain is generally defined as pain lasting three months or more. people normally experience the following types of chronic osteoarthritis，cervical spine and shoulder pain, periarthritis, tennis elbow, low back pain, sciatica, hand or knee pain, etc. Long-term pain affects the patient's daily life and work, may cause anxiety and depression, and deteriorates the quality of life.

The common causes of Chronic Pain

Chronic Strain

Human bones and joints work as machines. Long-term wear and tear will damage the components in the joints. The most vulnerable is the articular cartilage. After excessive cartilage wear, chondrocytes decrease, cartilage thins, and elasticity decreases until cartilage breaks. Abrasion can also cause some bone spurs to grow on the edge of the joint bone, which can cause a series of discomfort symptoms. Athletes and labor workers suffer from osteoarthritis more often because of wear and weight-bearing degenerative changes in joints. People who are engaged in office work all year round, who do not like activities and poor posture, are also prone to osteoarthritis. This shows that overwork or non-love activities are the predisposing factors of the disease

Degenerative Changes

As we age, the physiological functions of all parts of the body also degenerate. By the age of thirty, all tissues and organs of the body have fully developed and mature, and they will begin to age after the age of thirty. Aging is a degenerative change. However, slight degenerative changes in the body during the young and middle ages will not be noticed. however, the degenerative changes of the body are getting more and more serious. When aging reaches a certain level, you will obviously feel the lack of physical strength and energy. Bone joint   problem would be one of the early sign of the degeneration.

Obesity

Obese people are overweight and increase the load on the bone joints, which increases the strain on the bone joints, thereby promoting chondrocyte atrophy and intra-articular spur hyperplasia, accelerating the aging of joints. Aggravated the aging of bone joints.

Arteriosclerosis

Arteriosclerosis is an important factor leading to aging throughout the body, and bones and joints are no exception. After arteriosclerosis, the first is insufficient blood supply to the heart and brain. At the same time, it will also reduce blood supply to other tissues and organs throughout the body, and reduce blood flow into the synovium of the joint. Nutrients are also reduced accordingly, and then synovial fluid secretion is reduced, and the aging problem of articular cartilage is significantly accelerated.

Unhealthy Lifestyle Habits

Unhealthy lifestyles are closely related to the onset of pain: people who love quietness, people who do not love sports in daily life; people who have long been engaged in fixed posture work, such as clerks, accountants, typists, etc. ; Those who are obese, love to eat fatty meat, eat less vegetables and fruits, and those who eat too much; those who are sitting and standing improperly.

Chronic pain disturbs countless patients. Western treatments are mainly based symptom response by taking painkiller. However, some patients resist medicine or cannot use or continuously use pain medicine for some reasons, they need other pain relief methods. Traditional Chinese Medicine is the right choice that can relieve pain and cure pain as well.

Traditional Chinese Medicine explains that painfulness is caused by the clot of pathogen in meridian that is the pathways where vital energy flows in the body. Qi stagnation and blood stasis are the main causes. No clot, no pain.

In the treatment method of traditional Chinese medicine, activating blood circulation, removing blood stasis and activating Qi and collaterals" are often used in combination with acupuncture or external plasters to dilate blood vessels and accelerate blood circulation. Thus, Pathological products such as blood stasis and phlegm would be quickly dissolved and absorbed that restore blood flow to achieve pain relief.

this kind of pain is mainly caused by cervical spine syndrome (cervical brachial syndrome), myofascial pain syndrome, sciatica, periarthritis of the shoulder, carpal tunnel syndrome, gout and so on.

Sino hanfang TTS provide both cupping and warm moxibustion on target site. When combined with external plaster, pain would be relieved  exceptionally quick.

One research project for pain treatment by using sinofang TTS was undertaken by Henan Institute of Medical Sciences a few years ago. 120 patients were selected.  All patients were diagnosed as outpatients with painful manifestations caused by bone and joint diseases in the neck, shoulders, back, legs, etc. and chronic soft tissue injuries caused by bone hyperplasia, intervertebral disc herniation, intervertebral canal stenosis, and metabolic disorders. 60 received sinofang TTS treatment（experiment) and the rest 60 received traditional treatment (tradition).  Bellow is the comparison of treatment effect between the experimental group (by sinofang TTS) and the control group after 10 times treatment.

Another project was carried out by a military hospital in Beijing (301 Hospital) and the satisfied results was published on the “TCM Journal” in March 2011.