If your back pain is causing you to lose sleep, take days off work or generally interfering in your quality of life, it may be worth considering acupuncture as an alternative treatment.
Chronic back pain is one of the most common reasons people search out medical treatment and also one of the most treated conditions in the acupuncture clinic. Acupuncture has been shown to be more effective than standard treatment, including medication and usual physical therapy (NHS-UK 2009). Recently, the American Pain Society and American College of Physicians have advised doctors to suggest acupuncture as an alternative treatment for sufferers of chronic lower back pain which is not improving with conventional treatments.
According to the British Acupuncture Council, acupuncture can improve back pain by:
- Providing relief from pain. Acupuncture stimulates nerves located in the muscles and other soft tissues, leading to a release of endorphins and other neurohumoral factors. This changes the pain processing in the brain and spinal cord.
- Helping to reduce muscle stiffness and range of movement in the joints. Acupuncture can increase the microcirculation, encouraging the dispersal of swelling and bruising.
- Reducing inflammation, by the release of vascular and immunomodulatory factors.
Many of us suffer on a daily basis because we have tried the usual medication or physical therapy routes, to no avail, so we continue to function sub-optimally because we believe this is just 'our lot'. It doesn't have to be this way as there are many alternative treatments which can improve our quality of life and acupuncture is one of them. It is just about finding the best one for each of us.
I am a licensed acupuncturist working from the beautiful Perrymount Clinic in Haywards Heath. I have been working with musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction for 25 years with sports massage and advanced soft tissue techniques and am so happy to include acupuncture as part of the treatment I can offer to reduce pain and discomfort for sufferers of back pain.
