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The Kidney in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Alternative Medicine and Natural Health in NYC

The Kidney is considered a yin organ in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). As with most of the Organs, there is a certain degree of overlap in the understood functions of the Kidney in TCM and in Western medicine. In TCM the Kidney is said to dominate water metabolism and it is paired with the Urinary Bladder, its yang organ counterpart. Certain urinary disorders, especially urinary incontinence, are related to weak Kidneys.

In TCM however, the Kidney plays a much broader role in human physiology. The Kidneys store Jing or Essence. Essence, along with Qi and Shen, is one of the three fundamental substances and the majority of Essence is said to be pre-natal or, in other words, inherited. Essence, and by extension the Kidneys that store it, is responsible for growth, maturation, development and metabolism and for the cyclical aspects of life. The Kidney is therefore the primary organ involved in problems associated with slow or improper development in childhood, premature aging, infertility or sexual dysfunction.

The Kidney is also the organ associated with aging: as we grow older our Kidney Qi declines as well as our Kidney Yin or Yang. The Kidney is associated with the ears in TCM and it is common for the elderly to lose their hearing. The Kidney also nourishes the bones, so as Kidney Qi declines we can experience bone loss (osteoporosis) or tooth loss (the teeth in TCM are the “odds and ends” of the bones). The low back is said to house the Kidneys and one of our most common complaints, chronic low back pain, is usually a sign of Kidney dysfunction.

The Kidney works with the Lung to receive Qi from the air we breathe and as a consequence Kidney imbalance can often contribute to respiratory issues such as asthma. The Kidney is also responsible for warming the Spleen and so plays a role in digestion, diarrhea and dysentery often are associated with Kidney dysfunction. Interestingly, though many of the conditions Western medicine associates with the brain are associated with the Heart in TCM, the brain itself is considered marrow (as it is stored within bone) and is an aspect of the Kidney in TCM. The brain historically did not play a central function in human life in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Clinically, Kidney imbalances are very common. Low back pain and infertility are two of the most common reasons patients seek treatment with an acupuncturist. Knee pain is also quite common and is related to Kidney decline. Acupuncture treatments focus on tonifying Kidney function.

The acupuncture channel associated with the Kidney begins on the bottom of the foot and travels up the inside of the leg, over the abdomen and the chest to end under the clavicle.