Natural and Alternative Back Pain Treatment Options

Moxibustion is an externally applied herbal technique commonly used within Chinese Medicine (see What Is Moxibustion? for more information).  Moxibustion has a wide range of uses and is often recommended by acupuncturists as a home/self treatment and used in many clinics during patient visits as well.  Recently researchers from the Acupuncture-Moxibustion department of the General Hospital of the Chinese PLA in Beijing conducted a study to evaluable the effectiveness of moxibustion for myofa

Tai Chi has an enormous array of health benefits and has been heavily studied.  Benefits range from improving mood and energy levels to cardiovascular health to muscle strength and balance.  Researchers from the George Institute for Global Health and the University of Sydney in Australia recently conducted a study looking at Tai Chi as an aid for pain and disability - in this study from chronic low back pain.

A number of countries include acupuncture anasthesia and pain control techniques both within and following surgery to better aid patients and reduce their need and complications from higher doses of western medication.  These techniques are best when acupuncture is heavily integrated into the western medical environment and their is mutual understanding among practitioners.  In many of these settings nurses and/or physicians can be trained to perform basic (i.e. non-diagnostic) acupuncture for specific cases.

Researchers within the department of anesthesia at Henan University of Science and Technology in Luoyang China recently conducted a study evaluating the effectiveness of an acupuncture "extra" point for post-operative pain.  Researchers recruited 120 patients who were undergoing routine abdominal surgery and randomly divided them into an acupuncture group and a western medication group (Sufentanil).

      In 1920, Hans Bergen measured variations in the voltage of the brain and discovered there exist 2 main properties regarding brain waves: amplitude and frequency.  Amplitude being the fullness or strength of bio electrical current via synapses in cells of our body and frequency refers to the rate of pulsing or vibratory cyclical wave like movement between the firing cells.

As well as fertility and birthing issues, acupuncture is very often used during pregnancy as it is both effective and in some cases there are no viable western alternatives.  Breech position, back pain, morning sickness, propensity towards miscarriages, and more are all commonly treated.  There are a few points, however, that are "forbidden" or "contraindicated" during pregnacy (our list is here).

Animal studies of acupuncture are always interesting as they are a reasonable way of removing the placebo effect (to some degree) out of the healing equation.  In the American Jounral of Chinese Medicine researchers recently conducted a study to look at acupuncture for pain from a disc hernation.

While not very common in the US, China and other countries who have better integration of acupuncture into their hospital systems use acupuncture to limit the drugs required for anesthesia.  It is well known that this works but what points to use specifically and how much western medication can be reduced is still a topic of discussion.  Within this study, researchers from the Yueyang Integrated Medical Hospital in Shanghai tried to illustrate the most effective combinations.

A person came to see me with “lumbago.” She told me that a physician said it means she has a virus in her muscles. I’ve never heard of such a thing. But I suppose anything is possible. In any case, I don’t think it matters if there’s a virus or not. I believe we can help her feel better.

Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine are commonly used to treat a broad range of musculoskeletal problems.  The costs of these conditions to each individuals quality of life is often high and may lead to very serious secondary issues such as drug addiction, mental health problems and more.  With this study a group of researchers from the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam looked at whether or not improvements were made in subjects quality of life from acupuncture.