Acupuncture for Treating Lower Back Pain

If you live in the Bergen County New Jersey, and are considering acupuncture for treating lower back pain, you should know that acupuncture has been helping thousands of lower back pain suffers like yourself. You are not alone in your pain.

If the thought of getting needles stuck into your body makes you freak, just realize that these needles are much smaller than injection needles. No medicine is used in the treatment of acupuncture for treating lower back pain. That is because most people see the needles but they have no context in understanding what it is doing.

Acupuncture for Lower Back Pain– How it works to tame your painful back!

Acupuncture is enshrouded in mystery. In fact, the process takes advantage of physical processes that are recognized within mainstream medical practices.

Acupuncture Encourages Blood Flow

The acupuncture needles act as a signaling device to get your body to address the pain in the body. Acupuncture increases blood flow to the area of pain. This allows white blood cells, natural anti-inflammatories, and other substances to get into the area of pain, and at high levels, to help heal the area of pain.

Additionally, acupuncture shuts down the signals coming from the nerves in the area of pain.  Nerves of pain signal the pain.  Acupuncture shuts down these nerves of pain so your body can stop generating the pain.

Getting the body to work better at reducing the pain in real physiological ways (not placebo) help you get the pain down. In this way the back pain can be reduced and eliminated with successive treatments.

Who Uses Acupuncture for Lower Back Pain?

Lower back pain sufferers can benefit from acupuncture. Acupuncture is helpful for the pain relief. There are several ways that people arrive at my door seeking help from acupuncture.

• Have you been doing physical therapy, but are still in pain?
• Have you been prescribed pain medications but are experiencing negative side-effects?
• Have you been doing stretching and resting for your pain but still feel it?
• Do you still have pain after your lower back surgery?
• Do you still suffer from a nagging injury that has side-lined from you from doing an activity that you love such as a gym workout, running, Pilates or Yoga?
• Do you have an injury you have been trying to overcome? Maybe you injured yourself moving an object or from cleaning out an area?

Does Acupuncture Hurt?

Acupuncture visits are relatively painless. Acupuncture feels like getting your eyebrows threaded waxed (by a good therapist) to waxing your eyebrows. For those who don’t do that, in other words, acupuncture may cause a slight sting on the insertion of the needle, but once the needle passes through the skin, you will feel no pain and can sit quite comfortably with the needles throughout the session.

Here’s the thing about acupuncture needles. They are literally the smallest needles on the planet!  Smaller than a cat whisker and smaller than a sewing needle, acupuncture needles are thin, semi-flexible, and have no hollow tube in them. They work by their signaling action to the body.

Fear of needles is probably the single hardest selling point (no pun intended!) about acupuncture. Yes they are needles. No, not all needle feelings are alike! I can assure you getting acupuncture is not the same as a blood draw, a nerve block, a cortisone or epidural shot. They are worlds apart and quite different. Most people cannot relate to that because their only experience with needles is with the big painful ones! However, once you get your first needle put in, you realize it is quite different! Remember, suffering in pain is way worse than ANY acupuncture treatment.

How Many Acupuncture Visits Do I Need ?

The number of visits you need to treat your lower back pain depends on the severity of the problem and how much you keep re-aggravating the problem in your repetitive day-to-day activities. Once the acupuncturist examines you, then he or she can tell you more about a recommended treatment and therapy. There are three types of responders to acupuncture. Knowing ahead of time how you could respond is important to understanding where you stand after the first few treatments and what you should know about the projection of treatments needed.

What Happens On Your First Acupuncture Visit?

Plan for more time on your first visit to go over your problem fully. Most people think that acupuncture for treating lower back pain is simply walking in lying down and getting needles stuck into your back. That may be so, but taking the time to get a full understanding of the source of lower back pain, can help get a better treatment out comes.

If you are dealing with pain, expect your body part to be gently touched to assess the areas of and the level of spasm and tightness. Expect to be moved in different positions to stress muscles and nerves to see exactly what worsens and what doesn’t worsen the pain. These orthopedic tests are used just like in an orthopedics office to evaluate the state of your lower back. Expect to move your body in range of motion tests to see where the limitation is. Expect to test for trigger points or tender spots that really feel tender under pressure. Expect to be pressed at certain tender areas either directly on or far away from the areas of pain. These special acupressure points are critical in assessing the tenderness to see which ones will be more likely to work for your pain.

Keep in mind, assessment is needed to find out where the actual pain is coming. Not all pain emanates from where you feel the pain. Many times, clearing up pain in one area reveals pain in another area. So, the source of pain is critical in treatment. As the acupuncturist goes through the evaluation, more and more gets revealed to him or her as to the scope and cause of pain.

Additional testing such as blood pressure and pulse may be taken to see if the pain is spiking your blood pressure. Once a clear understanding of the pain is gotten, areas of pain are targeted with acupuncture.

If you want to try acupuncture for stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, digestive problems, or insomnia, then a different type of exam used to uncover the problems that are affecting you.  

What Actually Occurs During Your First Acupuncture Visit for Lower Back Pain?

Here are the actual steps for getting an acupuncture treatment. Again, this is after we have done an evaluation and checked the area to uncover the issue affecting it.

1. Draping: If you need to remove clothing, a towel will be given to you to drape yourself appropriately.

2. Positioning: You will then lie down on the treatment bed either face up for face down. If you are lying on your stomach for treatment it is a good idea to give you a pillow to prevent too much flexion in your lower back.

3. Preparation of Needling Sites: Areas of the acupuncture are cleaned with alcohol.

4. Insertion of Needles: Needles are systematically inserted with the use of a guide tube or without a guide tube into the skin to a certain depth and at key sites.

5. Sitting with the needles: You will sit for a set time anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes depending on several factors.  

While you lay still, your body is essentially receiving signals from the needles that are affecting the blood flow to the area of pain. Other signals are sent to your brain to shut down the pain signals it is receiving from the painful area. You need to sit for a certain amount of time to make sure you have reached the maximum effectiveness with the needles.

It is best to relax and to shut your phone off. You don’t want to jump after hearing the phone ring. Most people really cannot believe that they can sit with the needles, but once inserted, the needles not only go to work on reducing your pain, but they also go towards relaxing your body and mind. So the waiting part can be very relaxing and rejuvenating.

6. Removal of Needles: After a set time, the needles are removed. There may be some bruising and sometimes a drop or two of blood is released at a point as the needle is removed. If there is any bleeding a clean cotton ball with a swift swipe is all that is usually needed to take care of it. These two side effects are probably the most common side effects of an acupuncture visit.

There are 5 normal acupuncture sensations that you can feel with acupuncture for lower back pain that are not related to pain.

During this time your body releases a lot of endorphins at a high level and can help you feel extremely relaxed. Some people even fall asleep during the session which is fine. When the needles are taken out, you may still feel some circulation going on at the site of the needles. This sensation is short lived and subsides. You may also feel a sense of well-being and more energized from the session.

After the session you may or may not feel immediate relief. If you do feel immediate relief your sessions should be scheduled to optimize this relief enough times over to overcome the lower back pain. If you have not felt relief then you should do several sessions before making an evaluation of acupuncture in it’s entirely. There are three types of responses to acupuncture treatment when it comes to pain.  

If you’d like to learn more, feel free to call me. I have been in practice for over 21 years and have helped many like yourself, through the process of pain. I know what it is like to feel pain and not know what to do. I also understand how hard it can be to stop the lower back pain cycle. Many more are looking into acupuncture for lower back pain because they find it effective.

I invite you to make a call to come in for a consultation. We can spend up to an hour of my time going over your condition to see if this is a fit for you. The consultation is a no-pressure, evaluation to see how best you can be helped.

Call me at 201-444-7150 or email me at integrativeacupuncturecenter@gmail.com to see if acupuncture for lower back pain is an option for you! My acupuncture office is located in Ridgewood, New Jersey in the heart of Bergen County, New Jersey. Don’t let another day go by without addressing your pain! I look forward to your call and to see how I can be of best help for your lower back pain. Remember, you are not alone in your struggle against lower back pain!