Lower back pain (also referred as low back pain) is awful and nobody wants to go with it. It restricts our movements and becomes an obstacle in doing daily jobs.
The prevalence of lower back pain has a shocking presence. It affects nearly everyone at some point in time.
Usually, people with nonspecific lower back pain get back to their normal routines without any treatment or advice.
But, if it turns to be an acute or chronic pain treatment and professional advice is required to ease the pain.
However, it is not always possible to identify the real cause of low back pain: But some of them could be your poor posture while sleeping, sprains or strains, stress in joints.
The pain can also be due to certain medical conditions like displacement of bone in the spine, swelled joints in your spine, broken spine bone, infection and even cancer.
These are specific reasons for lower back pain and need professional advice and treatment.(1,2)
Is acupuncture good for lower back pain?
Acupuncture is a Chinese practice of treating pain by balancing energy flow among key points of one’s body called strategic points. This ancient practice is said to be evolved 2500 years ago with nearly no known potential side effects.
The practice improves the health of one’s body and promotes natural healing.
Many clinical studies find that acupuncture is helpful in treating varieties of pains associated with common musculoskeletal problems.
They include treating neck pain, lower back pain, knee pain, arthritis pain as well as other chronic health conditions like depression/anxiety, migraines, hypertension/hypotension, infertility. (3)
While acupuncture has found its place in treating varieties of pains but for lower back pain the studies are not conclusive. There are mixed responses.
According to a published review by the Centre for Health, Activity and Rehabilitation Research, New Zealand. And Centre for Health and Rehabilitation Technologies, UK, the effect of acupuncture on chronic and acute lower back pain is not conclusive and needs more studies to confirm the beneficial impact of acupuncture for lower back pain. However, the findings point out that acupuncture if used alone or with any conventional therapy helps relieve chronic pain for a short-term.(4)
Mr. Marcus Webb is an acupuncturist, osteopath, and naturopath who has 30 years of clinical experience in osteoporosis and chronic pain management finds modern acupuncture safe, relaxing and effective. He also correlates between the back pain and your sitting posture and recommends correct posture to prevent back pain from occurring.
According to Dr. Brent A. Bauer, M.D. acupuncture does not have any proven scientific evidence to treat lower back pain in patients. But many patients report they have got the relief from chronic lower back pain after acupuncture.
Also, many studies find the beneficial effect of acupuncture in relieving back pain than no treatment. He recommends trying acupuncture if no other treatments have worked for your lower back pain.
The reason is acupuncture has no serious side effects. He also suggests that if your lower back pain doesn't improve after a few weeks, acupuncture may not work for you.(5)
What are your thoughts about trying acupuncture for relieving your lower back pain?
Please share it in comments.
