Acupuncture Works For Back Pain!
Back pain is one of the most common reasons people see a healthcare provider, and
is one of the problems most frequently and most successfully treated by acupuncturists.
The NIH (National Institutes of Health) in their consensus statement recognized acupuncture as a valuable treatment option
for back pain as does the WHO (World Health Organization).
The use of acupuncture for back pain has increased dramatically as placebo-controlled
studies have validated it as a reliable method of pain relief.
How Does It Work?
Acupuncture needles stimulate the healing of back pain in many ways. Super-fine acupuncture needles
can speedily release muscle tension and spasm, increase circulation and drainage of inflamed tissues, release natural
opioid painkillers and other natural substances that promote healing. In Chinese Medicine there is a saying:
Tong zhi bu tong - Bu tong zhi tong.
If there is free flow there is no pain
If there is pain there is no flow
Acupuncture stimulates and creates a free flow of healing
energy or 'Qi' in the meridians that flow through and around the area of pain which has a significant effect on the healing
process.
Summaries of Acupuncture Studies
A study was conducted on 50 pain-clinic patients of median age 49.8 years who had experienced
back pain for over 6 months having tried therapies such as nerve blocks, drugs, physiotherapy and
corsets all to no avail.
Patients in the treatment group had 20 minute acupuncture sessions once a week for 8 weeks,
followed by a treatment 2 months and 4 months subsequently.
Patients measured pain intensity, sleep quality, analgesic
use, and activity levels daily in pain diaries and were regularly examined by an independent observer.
Results: Significant differences in pain levels were evident throughout
the study favouring acupuncture as an effective method of pain relief.
The acupuncture group also showed increased activity levels, less sleep disturbance,
dramatically less analgesic use and 6 were able to resume work and stop their sick leave.
The placebo group showed no significant difference in sleep disturbance or
analgesic use and pain scores were actually higher than baseline throughout the study.
This was an extremely well-conducted study from Lund
University Hospital, Sweden published in The Clinical Journal of Pain 2001;17(4):296-305
