Acupuncture and Back Pain By LI Zheng and Jessica Ward

Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is the most common cause of missing work. Fortunately, there are treatment options to relieve back pain and bring back your healthy life. If you do not want to take medication to numb your nervous system and try to get to the root cause of back pain, acupuncture is a safe and natural treatment choice that has shown great results in improving and preventing back pain. Back Pain: Symptoms Back pain is also called lumbago. The signs and symptoms of back pain may include muscle aches, and pain that is shooting or stabbing in nature. The pain may radiate down your legs and may get worsened by lifting, bending, standing, or walking. Back pain generally improves when people lay down. Activities like lifting something heavy or moving abruptly can contribute to back pain. Seek immediate medical health if you experience bladder or bowel problems, accompanied by fever if there is an immediate history of fall along with back pain. Causes of Back pain Back pain often develops associated with medical conditions like muscle or ligament strain, bulging discs, arthritis, kidney diseases, skeletal irregularities, sciatica, tendonitis and osteoporosis. A sudden movement or repeated heavy lifting can result in back pain. The soft material between the vertebrae (discs), may bulge and press against nerves, resulting in back pain. The risk factors of back pain include age, lack of exercise, overweight, spinal stenosis, scoliosis, sitting for long periods of time and smoking. Poor posture during our daily activities contributes to back pain. People who are trained in the Army, tend to have less back pain because of their good posture. In our lifetime, we all are susceptible to developing back and hip pain at some point; why can some people recover from back pain faster than others? If you have strong muscles and good posture and no chronic inflammation, Acupuncture can help you recover much faster. Acupuncture: A Holistic Approach The ancient Chinese medicine approach, acupuncture, is a holistic treatment option for many conditions. Based on the acupuncture principles, the healthy body is the result of the harmonious flow of life energy called qi, along its specified pathways called meridians. These are also called acupoints, where an expert acupuncturist inserts needles to correct and balance the flow of energy. Meridians are linked to an organ or group of organs. Stimulation of the energy flow qi brings in pain relief and improvement in health. A balanced flow of Qi results in mental and physical well being. Such a healthy body has healing powers. Acupuncture and Back Pain Systematic studies show that acupuncture, whether used in isolation or along with conventional treatment methods, can reduce certain kind of back pain right away. The reference to the study is https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4364128/. The results of the treatment of back pain with acupuncture can also help restore the normal functions of our back and spinal structure. Brain activity is stimulated to release neurotransmitters that can reduce the back pain and increase the pain threshold. Acupuncture can relax the muscles and tendons right away and reduce the disc swelling and nerve root swelling. Pain killers can temporarily mask back pain, but they do not help repair your muscles and ligaments. Acupuncture balances the body to evoke its capacity to maintain mental and physical health. Consult an expert today to treat back pain with acupuncture. Claim your life back!