Lower back pain is easily one of the top 3 most common issues I see in my clinic. Often it is also one of the most complicated to treat because the lower back is composed many different structures and the pain is often multi-factoral in nature. Is there a slipped disc, a pinched nerve, a muscle strain or spasm? Is the issue actually with the SI joints and not the lumbar spine at all? Regardless, lower back pain can be chronic and debilitating, leading to high usage of NSAIDS or even opiates amongst suffers.

But there is a better way!

Leave the pills behind and address the underlying cause of your pain. Acupuncture is recognized by the World Health Organization for its ability to treat lower back pain. In most cases acupuncture can help alleviate both the symptom of pain and address underlying cause of the pain by stimulating the body’s innate healing pathways. In my acupuncture practice, I incorporate a broad array of tools and techniques in addition to traditional acupuncture, including electro-acupuncture, Cold Laser Therapy, Cupping, traditional Gua Sha (or modern self-heating muscle scrapers), etc. These can be combined in a variety of ways depending on the condition being treated and the constitution of the individual patient. This wide array of treatment options gives us the flexibility to tailor treatments to your body and the specific causes of your back pain.

Treatment Options:

• Acupuncture: Hair-thin needles are inserted into various tissues to stimulate the release of endorphins that help alleviate pain, stem cells that assist in healing, release tight muscles, and promote blood flow and reduced inflammation. These needles are so thin that most people barely feel them. Generally people feel very relaxed during the treatment and often fall asleep
• Electro-Acupuncture: This treatment sounds intimidating, but is actually quite soothing. It is similar to a TENS machine (e.g. Dr. Ho’s) except that it leverages the conductive nature of the needles themselves to bypass the skin and deliver the micro-current of electricity directly to the target tissues. This allows it to be both more comfortable and more effective, especially in stimulating and modulating nerve function and alleviating pain. The machine is carefully adjusted to an intensity that is not too strong but rather soothing and relaxing.
• Cold Laser Therapy: This is arguably my most exciting tool. It’s a true game changer. It opens up two game changing options:
  1) It allows us to stimulate acupuncture points WITHOUT using needles (for people who are afraid of needles or who are unusually needle sensitive).
  2) It also allows us to create synergistic combo treatments where the acupuncture needles activate your body’s innate healing pathways and then the laser is applied to the tissues and supplies abundant energy directly to your body’s cells, fueling their ability to do that repair work much more quickly!
  In addition to its ability to enhance healing, Cold Laser Therapy can also help alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, improve circulation by stimulating production of nitric oxide, prevent scar tissue formation, reduce signs of wrinkles by stimulating collagen synthesis, and even enhance both male and female fertility! For lower back pain, I find the addition of laser to be most effective when there are issues with either the spinal or joint issues (SI joint dysfunction, arthritis, herniated disc’s etc.) or nerve involvement (pinched nerves, sciatica, etc.).
• Cupping: While these days cupping is often combined with massage therapy (and it’s wonderful, you should try it!), it actually originated alongside acupuncture. Combining cupping with acupuncture is one of the most potent ways of releasing tight muscles and fascia and can be extremely effective for treating lower back pain that is primarily soft tissue in nature.
• Gua Sha/Heated Muscle Scraper: This is another wonderful tool for soft tissue release. However, I find these tools work best on relatively superficial structures, for instance the neck and shoulder blade area as opposed to the lower back and hips, which contain both very thick muscles like the glutes and deep core muscle that are difficult to effectively access with these tools (needles and lasers are much more effective at getting at comfortably and effectively getting at these).

Where to start?

Book an Initial Consultation. During this appointment we will discuss the nature of your back pain. We will discuss treatment positions so as not to aggravate your back pain. This is critical because if placing you face down aggravates your lower back, it will make it very difficult for the treatment to help you. I find side-lying is generally comfortable and relaxing for most people in these cases, however seated in a massage chair is also an option. We will also discuss which of the above treatment options is likely to yield the best results for you. I am here to guide you, make recommendations, and answer any questions you may have, but at the end of the day, you have the final say in what treatments modalities we utilize.