Most back pain involves one or more of these meridians: the Bladder (leg Tai Yang), the “extra” Belt (Dai) Vessel, and the Gall Bladder (leg Shao Yang). 

Not that there is anything wrong with those organs! It’s just a location for now.  

The needles work by stimulating parts of the meridian system. You can also work on treating your pain at home by doing movements that stimulate those meridians! 

What are meridians?

When figuring out what points to use in acupuncture, I see which meridians run through those pain areas. Meridians are the pathways along which your Qi circulates. There are 12 main meridians in Chinese Medicine, and those are connected to internal organs. There are also 8 “extra” meridians, which are lines of energy travel, but mainly connect the points found on the other main meridians.  

Most back pain involves one or more of these meridians: the Bladder (leg Tai Yang), the “extra” Belt (Dai) Vessel, and the Gall Bladder (leg Shao Yang). 

Not that there is anything wrong with those organs! It’s just a location for now.  

The needles work by stimulating parts of the meridian system. You can also work on treating your pain at home by doing movements that stimulate those meridians! 

There are four main ways to go about this.  

1. DIRECT STIMULATION

One way to directly stimulate the meridians related to your lower back is to foam roll along the meridians. Even rolling on the leg portion of the bladder or gall bladder meridian can benefit the entire meridian. Heat therapy and massage are other examples of direct stimulation.  

2. RANGE OF MOTION

You can test your back range of motion with this quick chair exercise video below. Testing your range also can show you more precisely where your mobility is limited – where you feel stuck – and you can focus more on that. Working on your range also improves your range, otherwise known as flexibility! 

3. INTERNAL BALANCE

In this scenario, the health of the internal organs can contribute to the health of the meridian. A healthy Gall Bladder (emotionally, proper foods, detoxing) and Bladder (healthy balance of bacteria and flora, healthy epithelial cells, adequate rest) keep your body strong, energetic, and resilient.  

4. STRENGTH

A strong back includes the back muscles and the muscles that balance the back, namely, the front. The front meridians include the Kidney, the Liver, the Conception vessel, the Spleen, and the Stomach meridians. These meridians cross through your legs, torso, and neck. Movements can include core strengthening, balance, and posture work.  

DO YOU CARRY TENSION IN YOUR SHOULDERS?

More specifically, by “shoulders,” I mean your upper trapezius and sometimes your levator scapulae and rhomboids. We’ll discuss the deltoids, supraspinatus, and teres minor later. My gymnastics instructor said, “what most people don’t realize is that your ‘shoulders’ really extend to the middle/lower part of your back!”

Why is this such a common area of pain and tension? Life. So much of what we do daily involves forward bending: driving, computer work, picking up kids, and cleaning things. When your body moves forward, it's tempting to forget about your posture and slump, especially if you're tired. When your neck slumps forward, the shoulder muscles tense up. This is why so many people say it's stress because we're usually more tired and slump more when we're stressed. Time of stress also usually coincides with increased work when we're doing more of these forward motions. 

What can we do then – stop working? Our bodies are designed to work and do things, so doing nothing is not a good solution either. But we have to work smart. 

SHOULDER BLADE CONTROL

Each muscle has an opposite muscle. When one contracts, the other relaxes. It makes sense that some muscles need more activation for the muscles on top of your shoulders to relax more. Typically, if the tops of your shoulders have more tension, the muscles that pull your shoulders down and open your chest need more activation. You can do exercises to strengthen the muscles that keep the tops of your shoulders more relaxed.

This is one of my favorites. It’s easiest to do laying off the edge of a bed. 

Repeat this exercise to fatigue – until you can’t do anymore. After your shoulder tension improves, you can exercise once or twice weekly to maintain healthy shoulders. 

You can also strengthen your lower traps by hanging from a high bar with shoulder engagement or doing pull-ups. 

I’ll show you how to do it without doing a full pull-up (i.e., anyone can do this):

Tired yet?

Ok – one more exercise. This one you can (and should) do at your desk or when you’re working at least every hour.

Shoulder rotation exercise:

One at a time, bring each shoulder a little forward, then a little bit up, and lastly, a lot of movement going down and back.

Feels nice, huh?

Find a comfortable place to sit. 

1 – WRIST ROTATIONS.  Rotate your wrists slowly with a full range of motion – wrists and fingers are going in opposite directions all the way around in a circle.  The emphasis is on slow.  If you get stuck in a spot, don’t rush past it.  After 8 times in one direction, switch and do the other direction. 

2 – FINGER MOBILITY.  Have your palms face up and squeeze your fingers in, one at a time, like a fan.  Try to reverse it.

3 – WRIST STRETCH.  Make a light fist and have your knuckles touch completely.  Place both knuckles on the floor as shown here.  Control how much weight goes into your wrists; don’t go too hard.  You can also control the sensation by bending and straightening your elbows. 

4 – WRIST MOBILITY.  Hands and feet on the ground, fingers facing backward.  Again, control the amount of weight going into your hands and wrists that’s comfortable for you.  Slowly peel your palm and up to your fingers away from the ground.  Your hands can end up walking around in a circle this way.  Get the full range of motion all the way through your fingers. 

5 – STRENGTH BUILDING.  Start on your knees with your fingers pointing toward your toes and (VERY IMPORTANT) your shoulders, back, and hips stay in one line.  When you go down, your elbows graze your sides.  If you can’t do this (1) without holding your breath, (2) without crunching your shoulders up to your ears, or (3) without your elbows flaring out to the sides, don’t do it yet.  Just hold it as far down as you can and come back up.  Do 3-8 with the best form as you can.  Do another 3-8 with your palms facing in (elbows go out to the sides) and another 3-8 facing the palms out. 

6 – WRIST AND SHOULDER FLOSS.  Using your top leg to balance, lift yourself into a side plank.  Don’t do this (1) if it hurts your wrist, (2) if your shoulders are bunching up to your ears, or (3) you can’t keep your balance.  In that case, do a modified version laying on your side or on your elbow which I’ll show in a second.  From your shoulders to your hips, it’s like you’re sandwiched between 2 parallel walls.  Your hands are pushing in opposite directions, as if they’re pushing against 2 other walls that are at right angles to your body.  When you feel the opposition through your arms, make the upper hand into a fist and rotate your wrist.  Make sure to do both sides.