What causes back and neck pain?

Debilitating pain is one of the most limiting conditions that someone can be faced with - especially when localized in the neck or back. Anyone who can speak from experience knows that irritated nerves or muscles in the back and neck can make every waking moment excruciating while limiting mobility and independence. In short, this can be the kind of pain that requires immediate medical intervention.

 Unfortunately, Western Medicine often fails to provide meaningful, long-term alleviation of pain in the neck or back. Short of surgical intervention - which involves significant risk and no guarantee of success - most Americans will be prescribed pain medication to help manage their neck or back pain. 

 While these drugs can provide temporary relief, they will inevitably require larger doses in order to continue working. This cycle will repeat until the patient either experiences no relief from the medication, has serious side effects or becomes addicted to it. Either way - this is far from an ideal outcome.

 
How does acupuncture work?

Acupuncture is one of the safest treatments available today. Long trusted in Eastern countries for its effectiveness in curing illness in every medical category, acupuncture works by inserting thin needles at different points on the body in order to help balance and encourage the flow of qi, an internal bodily energy on which much of Eastern medicine is based. 

 When someone is healthy, qi flows smoothly along channels known as meridians, which connect throughout the entire body. Acupuncture manipulates the flow of qi to balance energy along meridians, sending it where it is lacking or releasing it from places where there is an overabundance. When qi is disrupted, excessive or lacking, illness may shortly follow.

 To date, there have been over 4,000 scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of acupuncture for an astonishing range of conditions, including back pain and neck pain. In Western medicine, acupuncture is believed to stimulate the nervous system and blood flow of the patient, triggering the release of chemicals which can help to stimulate the body into healing or reversing the problem which the patient seeks to correct.

 There are a number of different kinds of acupuncture practiced under the 'acupuncture' umbrella. Two of the most popular, in addition to standard acupuncture needling, are moxibustion and Electroacupuncture. With moxibustion, an acupuncturist may burn mugwort on the ends of an acupuncture needle to promote healing. In electroacupuncture, the acupuncturist will send a mild electric current through the needle to promote stimulation and healing. 

 
Can Acupuncture relieve back and neck pain?

In short – yes, acupuncture can relieve back and neck pain. Acupuncture has been found to cure back and neck pain in patients - not always with complete remission, but relief to varying degrees has been noted in most patients. This is the case with virtually all of my own patients who suffered from this sort of pain. Back and neck pain are two of the most common reasons that people seek acupuncture treatment worldwide - Western medicine often fails to alleviate the pain, which leads the patient to pursue 'alternative' therapies. 

 Acupuncture is one of the most commonly used forms of alternative medicine and works especially well for both back and neck pain.

 The exact treatment protocol prescribed when using acupuncture to treat back or neck pain will depend on several factors. For starters, not everyone experiences back or neck pain for the same reason. The root cause of the problem is typically what the acupuncture is intended to treat - so whether someone has a pinched nerve, slept in an unhealthy way for an extended period, is suffering from a bulging disk or otherwise will inform on course of action and treatment. 

 Level of severity may also dictate the exact course of action.

Relieving back and neck pain with acupuncture

At my own practice, Acupuncture Jerusalem, we’ve helped many patients find relief from back and/or neck pain. 

 One patient arrived at the clinic complaining of pain from a pinched nerve in their neck that had been causing more and more pain over the course of the prior several years. Wanting to avoid the pitfalls of prescription pain medication, they sought acupuncture treatment after hearing about how it had helped a friend in a similar predicament. 

 The relief experienced during the first session alone was dramatic. The patient described the pain level, which had presented as an 8 out of 10 during the pre-session medical exam, as having fallen to the level of a 4 out of 10. Initially, pain would gradually increase over the course of the time in-between weekly treatments, but after only a few months, the pain had become sporadic, as opposed to constant, and remained at low levels. 

The patient now needs only the occasional (roughly bi-monthly) maintenance acupuncture session to keep the pain at bay and maintains full quality of life.

 In another instance, a middle-aged woman arrived at my practice complaining of lower back pain that had persisted for years. Having failed to find satisfactory relief from medications which had been prescribed to her, her doctors had recommended surgery to remove bone to relieve pressure on the nerves and alleviate her spinal stenosis.

 While acupuncture treatment could not cure her back problems, regular treatment did provide a tremendous amount of pain relief which, coupled with other therapies and lifestyle changes, allowed her to live virtually pain-free and avoid going under the knife.
 
How many acupuncture sessions are needed to cure back and neck pain?

A relatively common rule of thumb is that the number of months the patient has been suffering correlates to the number of treatments needed. For each month of suffering, one session is needed. 

However, this only represents a loose baseline and is certainly variable. Sessions are typically scheduled on a weekly basis, although they could be somewhat more or less frequent depending on how much relief is felt after a session, or how severe the pain is. As the condition improves, appointments typically become less frequent until they are no longer needed at all.

Is acupuncture painful? Are there any side effects to acupuncture treatment?

 
There is very minimal discomfort or pain experience during acupuncture treatment, beyond a slight pinch at the insertion of an acupuncture needle. In terms of side effects - there are virtually none to speak of!
 
In addition to its effectiveness, the lack of pain or side effects associated with acupuncture is part of why so many people pursue it. Unlike invasive or risky medical procedures or prescriptions, acupuncture is a completely safe and risk-free course of action. 

 I would strongly encourage anyone who has tried and failed to find back or neck pain relief through ‘traditional’ means to try acupuncture for these reasons and more. There is virtually nothing to lose, and an astonishing amount of relief to gain. 

Is there anything else someone should know before beginning acupuncture treatment?

Find an experienced and reputable acupuncturist to perform your treatments. The more experienced your acupuncturist, the more likely she or he will be to have noted your symptoms in other patients and have dealt with similar cases before. 

 This will ensure they take the correct course of action and design a treatment plan that will effectively target the underlying cause of your pain, leading to lasting - and perhaps permanent! - relief.

 
Jamie Bacharach Dipl.Ac is a Licensed Medical Acupuncturist and the Head of Practice at Acupuncture Jerusalem. Follow Jamie and her practice, Acupuncture Jerusalem on Facebook.