Acupuncture for Back Pain
Yin Studio provides treatment for all types of musculoskeletal conditions, especially back pain. Back pain is a common problem affecting most adults at some point in their lives and left untreated can lead to more serious issues, such a spinal and disc degeneration.
What causes back pain?
Your spine is made up of 33 bones stacked on top of each other. The role of the musculoskeletal system is to stabilise these bones, hold you upright and allow you to move in all directions by bending and twisting. For every muscle on the back that allows you to move left, there are several on the right which will stabilise your spine during this movement and vice versa.
If a single muscle on the back is injured or strained this will cause a tightening to the elastic muscle fibres. When you next use the injured muscle to twist or bend, it will pull at the sites where the muscle attaches to the bone causing pain and inflammation. The partnered muscles on the opposite side of the body are now in a constant active state, working twice as hard to stabilise your spine. These muscles will quickly fatigue, start spasming and then tighten causing you further pain and discomfort.
If left untreated all the muscles above and below these muscles will start to suffer the same fate but it doesn’t stop there. Your spine can no longer move freely and this will effect it’s alignment as well as the shape and quality of the vertebra and discs. After chronic periods of back pain the body will try to resolve the problem by fusing the joint, making the vertebra grow together, preventing all movement of the joint and further injury to the area. This is known as the 3 phases of spinal degeneration.
How can acupuncture help?
Cathy Bell at Yin Studio is passionate about back pain and spinal health. She will do a physical examination of your back and spine to form a diagnosis and work out the best treatment plan for you.
These treatments are targeted to remove the pain and tension from muscles and ligaments, to remove toxic waste products built up in the muscular tissue, to increase cellular growth and repair and to restore as much full movement to the spine as is possible.
Is acupuncture the right choice for back pain?
Acupuncture is a treatment with minimal risks, proven to reduce pain and therefore, your reliance on medication. I encourage you to see it as the first line of treatment for back pain.
As acupuncture becomes more popular in Australia, more and more doctors are referring to acupuncturists however the majority are still following traditional treatment plans. This treatment plan usually consists of a script for pain medication and/or anti-inflammatory drugs and a referral to a physiotherapist.
Physiotherapy means physical therapy and is based on stretches and exercises. If the injury was caused due to a muscular weakness exercises are very important down the track once the muscles are relaxed again, however exercises are difficult to perform until the back muscles have relaxed and sometimes they can flare the condition further. Acupuncture helps muscles to relax and reduces pain, which is helpful before undertaking physical therapy for back pain.
You may be offered dry needling by the physiotherapist. It’s very important you understand acupuncture and dry needling are not the same thing. We advise against dry needling. See the right professional for the job. The acupuncture degree is 4 years full time study with thousands of clinical hours, the dry needling course is usually 2 days, yes that is correct, it’s not a typo - I said 2 days. Clearly there will be a significant difference in the results and adverse effects you will get between your physio putting in acupuncture needles and your acupuncturist.
I believe in a holistic approach and using the right practitioners at the right time. Once the pain and muscular tension has been removed, we can direct our focus to the underlying cause. Sometimes it may be necessary to involve the help of other professionals such as chiropractors to adjust your bones, physios to provide exercises to strengthen weak muscles, and podiatrists to adjust the alignment of your feet.
Your acupuncturist, Cathy Bell, can identify when this extra help is needed and can direct you to the health professionals she knows and trusts, working together as a team to achieve the best possible result and to get you back to full health.
When should I see an acupuncturist?
If back pain is a problem, we recommend you book an appointment straight away. Putting up with back pain is not beneficial and the problem will usually get worse with time.