Acupuncture For Low Back Pain Relief

Acupuncture works well for many types of lower back pain and is probably 65% of what we treat on a daily basis, so we can state with confidence in the majority of cases that acupuncture works well for low back pain relief.

Let's start with an anatomy 101 lesson: your back is made up of soft tissue (muscles, ligaments, tendons) and bone, blood vessels and nerves. There are also several organs located deep to the low back, which is important to consider when diagnosing the root cause of pain.

Some causes of lower back pain are:

1. Strains to soft tissue

2. Disc herniations

3. Vertebral fractures

4. Inflammation of the periosteum at the facet joints

5. Disc degenerations: osteoarthritis, stenosis, spondylolisthesis

6. Referred pain from kidney or gallstones
   

Your low back pain can run the spectrum from feeling dull, achy, sharp, radiating, or electrical (from nerve compression), any of which can be accompanied by numbness and tingling and/or weakness.

How does western medicine treat this? Diagnostic tests will identify the location and nature of the problem using technology: x-ray, CT scans, MRIs, or myelogram. If the problem is not severe, the course of treatment for mild low back pain is rest, medications (NSAID, anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers), ice and heat packs, and physical therapy exercises.

The diagnostic test results are a valuable tool to identify what we’re dealing with, but it is by no means a requirement. Most people come in for treatment with mild low back pain to get out ahead of the condition. In general,, acupuncture works by improving circulation, reducing local inflammation, and stimulating the body’s natural signaling for tissue repair. On average, our patients start to feel better after 2 to 3 sessions, though some find relief after the first session.

Movement is an important part of therapeutic treatment to speed recovery, and we recommend gentle exercises to maintain core strength and work the range of movement in the affected area.

In addition to straight-up acupuncture, your low back pain issue might call for massage, cupping, gua sha, electroacupuncture, topical pain-reducing herbs, infrared heat, passive stretching, and injection therapy.