Did you know that NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) guidelines now recommend that acupuncture be offered on the NHS as a treatment for chronic lower back pain? Studies show acupuncture can ease the symptoms of lower back pain, which affects around one third of the UK’s adult population each year.
Traditional acupuncture has been used for over 2000 years to alleviate back pain. Acupuncture can help by providing pain reliefⁱ, reducing inflammation², improving muscle stiffness and joint mobility³, reducing the use of medication for back complaints⁴, providing a more cost-effective treatment over a longer period of time⁵ͨ and improving the outcome when used in conjunction with conventional treatments such as rehabilitation exercises⁶.
Acupuncture treats the individual not the specific condition. Although cases may be similar, each patient presents with a unique set of symptoms and causes of pain. There may also be other underlying factors affecting a patient’s response to treatment. A course of 10 sessions is recommended by NICE, although most practitioners review a patient’s progress after 4 or 5 sessions and agree a strategy going forward. There are, of course, other options to deal with back pain, such as osteopathy and chiropractic, and I will occasionally refer a patient on if I feel that one of these treatments would benefit them more.
When following a course of treatment for lower back pain it is important to stay as active as possible. Moderate activity such as walking and swimming is particularly helpful in aiding recovery, whilst yoga and pilates are good for improving flexibility and strengthening back muscles.
If you’d like to know more about acupuncture and how it could help your back pain, do take a look at my website, & get in touch.
ⁱ(Pomeranz 1987; Zhao 2008)
²(Kim 2008, Kavoussi 2007;Zijlstra 2003)
³(Komori 2009)
⁴(Thomas 2006)
⁵(Radcliffe 2006;Witt 2006)
⁶(Ammendolia 2008; Yuan 2008)