If your back aches and throbs, did you know that the pain might actually stem from cold qi in the lower abdomen? The navel is the center of our body and the starting point of life; Korean medicine calls this the navel and considers it exceptionally important. Donguibogam clearly explains that when the area around this navel, the lower abdomen, becomes cold, various problems occur, and it is especially deeply connected to low back pain.
The navel is where the energy of the five viscera and six bowels gathers, serving like a central boiler room that regulates the circulation of qi and blood throughout the entire body. If this area turns cold, just like frozen water pipes in winter, warm energy cannot circulate and stagnates, causing pain. Donguibogam viewed this state as lower energizer deficiency cold (hachoheohan), meaning the lower abdomen has become cold and weak. The lower energizer is the crucial lower region of our body where the kidneys, urinary bladder, large intestine, small intestine, and, in women, the uterus and ovaries are located. When this area becomes cold, it is not merely that the abdomen feels chilly; the impact directly reaches the lower back connected to it.
The expression in Donguibogam that the navel and lower abdomen ache urgently, pulling painfully into the lower back and spinal column clearly shows how much pain the stagnation of circulation of qi and blood caused by this cold qi can trigger. When blood circulation is not smooth, muscles and ligaments stiffen and spasm easily. Imagine it: just as solid ice cannot move freely, when our body's muscles freeze and stiffen due to cold qi, even slight movement can cause a strain or an aching pain. Particularly for women, lower abdominal cold syndrome is closely tied to uterine health, becoming a cause not only of dysmenorrhea and irregular menstruation, but also chronic low back pain. Donguibogam was warmly reminding us hundreds of years ago just how essential it is to protect the health around the navel, the central axis of our body.
