Bladder Meridian Pain and Kidney Deficiency Symptoms

Examining a case of Short Right Leg Syndrome demonstrating Bladder meridian pain in the right lower limb and Kidney deficiency symptoms. Both result from rigidity at the right hip associated with the Second Cardinal Sign of SRLS compounded by lumbar dysfunction or injury. These are advanced cases not often sighted in my practice. Were I to visit old age homes, I would expect to see more because, ultimately, it can force individuals into retirement from active life.
 

Characterised by pain along the Bladder meridian in the hamstring, Biceps Femoris insertion to the knee, calf and lateral side of the heel. Accompanied by thickening and tightening through connective tissue of the backline of the lower limb.
 

Kidney deficiency, assessable by a Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner, can be the consequence of energetic Qi flow blockage in the Bladder meridian. Symptoms include: dry mouth; constipation; insomnia; aching lower back; anxiety; tinnitus; fluid retention in ankles and feet; reduced vitality and endurance. These symptoms will wax and wane in response to fluctuating influences. Becoming progressively more prominent with time and age as Kidney vitality lessens and rigidity at the pelvis increases.
 

In the Chinese meridian system, energetic Qi travels through each of the twelve bilateral meridians continuously. There is also a shorter two hour pulse of higher intensity analogous to putting that organ on charge for the day’s activity ahead. Where one meridian ends, the next begins. The daily cycle is illustrated below.
 

The Bladder meridian immediately precedes the Kidney meridian in the 24 hour cycle. Where the Bladder meridian is blocked by postural strain in its convoluted passage through the lumbro-sacral region, this effectively starves the Kidneys energetically and Kidney deficiency symptoms result. TCM herbal and acupuncture treatment for the Kidney deficiency is beneficial but yields a partial, temporary outcome until impediments to the Bladder meridian’s energetic Qi flow are removed.
 

Flexibility through the pelvis and good muscle tone is preventative. Insertion of a heel lift under the short leg beneficial. However, where that adjustment is only one third to one quarter of the leg length discrepancy, gait issues still prevail and supplementary treatment will need to continue indefinitely at the right hip. This includes mobility and stretching exercise for the pelvis, deep tissue massage about the Iliac Crest and into the Quadratum Lumboris at the small of the back, Indirect Fascial Release, Chi Gong Therapy, etc. Treatment should be applied to both sides of the pelvis but it is the right that is usually tighter and more problematic in this respect owing to the right sidedness of the Second Cardinal Sign of SRLS. Left sided issues more affected by the First Cardinal Sign also impact the backline of the lower limb but are of a different nature having a lessor affect on the Lumbar and Iliac Crest.
 

Sorry...it can be complex and study of the descriptions I give of the Cardinal Signs considered in relation to meridian pathways is necessary for better understanding.
 

Placing the palm of the hand over the hip and small of the back for a prolonged period of time and directing breath to it is sufficient to clear some degree of blockage and activate energetic Qi flow through the Bladder meridian and relieve pain in the lower limb. This was my experience. Within minutes of doing so, strong heat was felt at the beginning of the Kidney meridian in the sole of my right foot. Then the entire foot became warm, the leg softened and warmed, and the pain I had been experiencing for two years was relieved. It took some months before I fully plumbed the depths of the condition that had taken six decades to form and effectively cleared entrenched holding patterns creating unremitting tightness through the soft tissue of the right hip. This required advancing treatment to include deep tissue massage and stretching about the right Iliac Crest. Pain cleared from the right lower limb and vitality increased. I no longer considered retirement necessary.