Acupuncture for Back Pain Relief
Lower back pain can ruin your day. Or week. Or years of your life.
Acupuncture can help.
For thousands of years, Acupuncture has helped people get out of lower back, hip, and sciatic pain.
First, we diagnose what kind of back pain you’re experiencing. Every body is unique. We strive to understand what’s going on specifically with yours.
The main types of back pain that we see include: tight muscles along the lumbar spine or in the glutes; imbalance in the sacro-iliac (S-I) joint; injury or compression of the discs; scoliosis; and arthritis. To determine what type of lower back or sciatic pain you’re experiencing, we always start with an abdominal diagnosis, especially checking the muscles around the hips for tightness or discomfort.
After the needles have been working for about 20 minutes, we check your back. Here we’ll see where the pain or tension remains, and figure out the best acupuncture points to relieve it.
Most people leave the treatment feeling at least 50% improved.
How it works – the needles (1/12 the size of a hypodermic needle) go into your arms, legs, and sometimes back or abdomen to change the pattern of blood flow to the pain area(s). Most of the acupuncture points you won’t feel. Pressure or tingling around a needle after insertion is normal. Once all the needles are in, most people go into a deep relaxation or fall asleep.
When you improve circulation, it’s like when you un-kink a garden hose. The flow returns. Your garden (in this example, your back), starts to heal.
Chronic problems can take several rounds of treatment for a full recovery. The longer the problem has been there and the more serious the issue, the more time it takes to heal.
But you should feel some improvements within just a handful of sessions. This way, we know we’re heading in the right direction.
A few supplements that we usually recommend for back pain include Ligaplex and Glucosamine. If you’re interested in learning more about how nutrition can impact your back, we’ll talk about this at your initial consultation and first treatment.
What Else Can Help With Back Pain?
You’ve already heard the importance of “strengthening your core.”
The thing is, according to ancient yogic principles, there are 3 parts to the “core.”
- The perineum (space between the anus and genitals)
- All the abdominal muscles that criss-cross your mid-section
- Your throat/neck
If all 3 areas are positioned correctly and activated, your stars align, and you feel great!
In a healthy back, the alignment in your hips is relaxed and even, with activation going into your feet.
Many people, when they’re told to “sit up straight” make this grave and common error – they stick their ribs out. This puts undue pressure on L4, L5. These discs are frequently the root cause of back pain and sciatica.
By anchoring the rib cage, bringing the ribs IN instead of letting them stick out, you allow the back to relax.
You can try this and feel the muscles in your lower back relax.
At first, you’ll feel like you’re slouching. Over time, you re-train your muscle memory.
Doing this while the shoulders stay down and back is another new muscle memory to try as well.
There’s so much to learn!
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