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Acupuncture Treatment for Lower Back Pain
What is acupuncture treatment? Will acupuncture treatment help relieve my lower back pain?
Acupuncture as a treatment for lower back pain
Most people nowadays have heard of acupuncture treatment and have a vague idea of how acupuncture treatment works. It can help many people with lower back problems. Medical research has now provided strong evidence that acupuncture treatment works well for several different painful back conditions. It can also be used as treatment for other types of (non pain related) health problem but as yet nobody has properly done medical experiments in these areas.
Acupuncture was first used in China and Japan almost four thousand years ago and has become widely available in the West. You can have acupuncture done by a doctor, a physiotherapist, an osteopath, a chiropractor or by other specially trained therapists. Many of those who treat lower back pain find that acupuncture works best when combined with other forms of back treatment although it often succeeds if used on its own.
The acupuncture treatment of the back involves inserting very fine needles through the skin of the back into areas known as acupuncture points. These special acupuncture points are found either by the specialist feeling for them - they are often tender - or by using special charts which act a bit like a map of the body. Usually people in whom the points are tender get most benefit from acupuncture. If the areas are not tender when pressed by the therapist then it is still worth trying acupuncture treatment, but the chances of a very good result are likely to be a bit less.
Some people have a fear of needles and may worry that a treatment like acupuncture is going to be painful. If you are like this then don't be afraid. The acupuncture needles are very different to the needles a doctor uses for taking a blood test. Very often people say that it doesn't really feel like being jagged with a needle at all. "More like a dull warmth" and "sort of a nice ache" are descriptions acupuncture specialists often hear used. This funny feeling is called the needling sensation and seems to be important to the success of the treatment.
There is more than one way to perform acupuncture treatment. Some therapists use the traditional Chinese method and spend a long time working out what is wrong with their patient using the ideas of Chinese medicine. This involves complicated techniques and takes a long time for the acupuncture therapist to do well.
Western scientists and doctors have done a lot of research into acupuncture treatment in the last twenty or thirty years. Nowadays we know how acupuncture works to relieve lower back problems. Putting needles into acupuncture points on the back can produce pain killing chemicals within the body and change the way that nerves respond to pain signals. This has led to some acupuncturists - often doctors or physiotherapists - using what they call a scientific type of acupuncture. This uses the same needles into the same points on the skin but the therapist does not make a Chinese type of assessment beforehand. It seems that this method works just as well as the more complex Chinese method in the treatment of back pain.
Acupuncture treatment without needles
If you would like to try acupuncture treatment for your lower back problem but simply could not bear the thought of having needles put in then there are other ways to do it. Its possible to have the same points the acupuncture needles go into treated just by pressing on them. This firm pressure and massage is called acupressure. Another option is to use a laser beam or heat. These both work but probably not quite as well as the needles do.
A good rule of thumb to follow if you do try acupuncture treatment for lower back pain is that normally you should begin to notice a real change in your pain after two or three treatments. You might not be fully recovered but you should definitely feel better. If you have had three treatments and really have noticed no difference at all then it may be that acupuncture is not going to do the trick. Trust your own body. It is wrong to continue having a treatment which you are sure is not helping.
Page Links for other lower back pages
Lower back pain
What causes back pain
How the spine nerves work
Facet Joint Pain - Sacroiliac Joint Pain
Back pain, disc pain and disc degeneration
lower back pain and the lumbar facet joints
What is Lower Back Pain
Why is my back sore?
Lower Back Pain Treatment and Referred Pain
First aid treatment measures for a low back pain attack
Manipulation Treatment for Back Pain
Acupuncture treatment for lower back pain
Back Pain Treatment
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