What Is Acupuncture For Back Pain




Acupuncture for back pain has been used as a valid treatment for thousands of years, in the East at least. In the rest of the world, it has been slower to gain traction but recent studies with promising results have accelerated the take-up of this now popular treatment.

For example, several studies have shown that it can be more cost effective than other back pain treatments, in terms of quality of life. In many countries such as the UK, acupuncture is now offered to back pain sufferers and subsidised by the government.

Controversy

Despite these recent studies showing to the contrary, there are still those who believe that acupuncture is mumbo-jumbo or pseudo-science.

Although there is now a growing body of evidence showing its effectiveness, many point out that Eastern medicine is not "proven", especially against the backdrop of ideas such as "chi" and "energy meridians".

Acupuncture supporters counter this by saying that even if the principle cannot be properly understood or proven, randomised controlled trials (the gold standard of medical studies) prove from observations that acupuncture works.

How Does It Work?

A qualified practitioner will first massage your body and rely on your feedback to find the most painful areas. These are then treated with the needles you may have seen on TV which are actually quite painless.

It is normal to need to strip your clothes off down to your underwear. Even if you have only lower back pain, most practitioners will need to see and possibly treat you along your whole spine in order to fix your back problem. Women may need to unclip their bras but complete removal is usually not necessary.

More areas are then treated depending on your anatomy and how your chi channels lie. Several sessions are normally needed for you to get the full benefit of acupuncture.

Acupuncturists claim that their skills don't just relieve pain but actually help to restore the muscle balance that many, if not most, people with back pain have lost.

Typical Results

Results vary from person to person but around half or more report some long term benefit.

At first this may not sound much but this is much higher than for other conventional treatments such as physiotherapy and/or drugs which is closer to the 25% mark.

Other Benefits

Most patients report other benefits from acupuncture with claims of increased well-being, better sleep and less anxiety being fairly common.











More Articles

What Is Spinal Decompression Therapy
Spinal decompression therapy is a type of non-surgical means of decompressing the spine. This is an important distinction because the phrase "spinal decompression" is usually taken to mean the surgical alternative. What Is It? Also known as vertebral axial decompression, it is basically a ...

What Are The Causes Of Back Pain
There are a number of different causes of back pain. Whilst most are related to age and degeneration of the back and spine there can also be other reasons for back pain. Poor Posture Mobility naturally keeps us and our entire musculoskeletal system in good shape. Modern living, however, ...

Is There Medicine For Back Pain
Back pain is such a common affliction so it is little wonder that there are a myriad of drugs available. Medicine for back pain varies greatly in terms of both ingredients and the delivery method. Pharmaceutical Drugs Most manufactured, pharmaceutical drugs for back pain are not designed ...

Learn About Sciatic Nerve Treatment
Sciatica has a number of different causes so your choice of sciatic nerve treatment depends largely on this. Nevertheless, there are still a wide range of options available that can greatly reduce or eliminate the pain and make a radical improvement to your quality of life. Cause Of Your ...

How To Exercise For Lower Back Pain
In decades gone by it was often advised that those with lower back pain should simply rest and immobilise themselves in bed. These days it is largely recognised that you should keep some mobility in order to prevent long term loss of motion and from getting the back pain in the first place. Also, ...