Studies have shown that 4 in 5 adults will have had felt back pain at some point in their lives.  These studies have also revealed that people ages 19 to 45 that have filed for disability have often cited back pain as the cause of their disability.  Back pain can hardly give you a way to feel comfortable no matter what position or posture you do.  Back pain is one of the top reasons for people missing work in the US.

There are very many reasons that can cause back pain.  These include weak back and stomach muscles, herniated discs or bone diseases, prostate or kidney problems, constipation, poor posture, old shoes, resting or sleeping on old or thin mattress, sleeping on your belly, overweight, extra spinal curvature, chronic arthritis, kidney infection, bad lifting habits and overuse.

Happily, there is a great natural treatment called acupuncture to help relieve back pain.  Back pain has a different kind of pain than back pain in that with kidney problem you only feel pain on one small part of the back plus may have fever and feel really sick overall.  If you are uncertain what type of problem you have, you need to talk to your physician to ascertain what kind of problem you have.

Having chronic pain may sometimes imply you have been engaging in poor habits for a long time.  Your posture for example may be giving extra pressure and stress on your spine.

Traditional Chinese medicine sees acute low back pain as stagnation of blood and energy (chi) which results in severe pain.  Chronic low back pain on the other hand means too much wind or dampness.  Pain that has been felt for long time means blood and energy flow in the body is poor and imbalance of yin and yang in the affected organs.  Problems with the urinary and bowel systems can also lead to acute or even chronic back pain.

An St Helens acupuncturist can utilize several numbers of ways to address his patient’s low back pain. Of course the technique used will depend on the diagnosis of the patient.  The acupuncturist can utilize heat energy in the form of infrared heat treatment or moxa if cold in the body is what causes the back pain.  The acupuncturist can also utilize electromagnetic acupuncture, electroacupuncture or traditional needle acupuncture on the problem acupuncture points.

Heat and ice therapy can also help in lessening back pain.  Ice has a way to suppress pain, swelling and inflammation.  For back injuries, you need to apply ice for about two days.  You can alternate between heat and ice therapy to the swelling after three days of treatment although you need to end treatment with ice therapy.