Acupuncture for Back Pain

Have you felt a sudden sensation of pain, pulling, or weakness that informs you that you are in for more pain at a later time? Do you have a nagging, daily ache that develops over time? Lower back pain can feel like a nuisance and can hold you back from enjoying life to the fullest. If you are searching for how to reduce low back pain,  Acupuncture, cupping, guasha, and electrical stimulation can all provide relief.

Pain in the lower back is the most common complaint heard by healthcare practitioners. The vast majority – a whopping 80% of adults experience at least one episode of low back pain at some point in their lives. For some people, lower back pain becomes a chronic condition and is the second most common cause of disability amongst adults in the United States. Some have low back pain due to an injury  like a fall, automobile accident, or overuse due to work (thik bending, prolonged periods of sitting or standing, etc.)

How to Treat Lower Back Pain – A Common but Complex Condition

Lower back pain presents a challenge for physicians, because in many cases, there is no clearly discernible cause. MRI’s, X-Rays, and CT’s may help us get a picture of structural damage to the spine, but they do not always give us the full picture. Pain is not limited to structural or mechanical problems in the body. There can also be chemical, emotional, behavioral, sociological root causes, or a combination of any of the aforementioned.

The American College of Physicians has just recently issued new guidelines regarding the treatment of lower back pain specifically advocating that doctors and patients first try natural and alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, massage, and physical therapy over pain medications.

Acupuncture is utilized to treat the physical pain and also get to the root cause of your pain to help mitigate risk of a relapse. The main principle of Traditional Chinese Medicine (“TCM”) is to  treat the whole person, other known as a holistic approach. An acupuncturist will assess the different elements of each patient’s individual presentation to make a diagnosis and develop a course of treatment customized to the patient. This will include not only acupuncture, but lifestyle recommendations and potentially supplements to address the root of the problem. Exercise and nutrition are core components to getting the patient back on their feet and doing the things they love in a timely fashion. Lower back pain has been shown to affect a person’s mental outlook on life. Stress and depression can turn an acute condition into a chronic one. It is imperative to treat the root cause of an acute condition to prevent it from turning into a chronic condition.

What could be causing your back pain? 

Most patients experience a generalized type of lower back pain. This could be related to muscle strain or stiffness, repetitive movements or poor posture while relaxing, sleeping, or working. Other back pain can be based on specific injuries or pathologies. Some types of pain, such as sciatica, are rooted in the nerves, potentially due to pinching or other damage, and causing hip pain and pain that radiates down the leg(s). Occasionally the sensation can be like tingling or numbness rather than a burning pain.

Some  patients have had surgical intervention to correct their problem and now their scans may show that the problem has been “solved”–but they are still experiencing pain. In other words, a person’s experience of pain or loss of mobility may not correlate to what we see in the imaging.