Back Pain & Acupuncture

Written By Georgios Vlahoylis

Did you know acupuncture is recommended prior to opioids for the treatment of back pain? 

In 2017, American College of Physicians released the new recommendation that MDs should suggest acupuncture, amongst other practices BEFORE prescribing medication for back pain, in order to help reduce the opioid crisis. You can read more here.

Wonderful, right? The only way they would make such a strong recommendation for acupuncture is if scientific research backed it up. To which they did after carefully considering systematic randomized controlled studies of non invasive treatments for acute, subacute and chronic nonradicular back pain.

 

In addition, multiple studies support the effectiveness of acupuncture for managing pain. And not just back pain.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also supports the use of acupuncture for many other conditions - and their recommendations are based on research outcomes. 

You can see the full list of conditions (pain + more) for which the WHO & NIH recommend acupuncture here

 

What kinds of pain can acupuncture help with? 

  • Back pain 

  • Neck pain/stiffness/tightness

  • Sciatic pain 

  • Knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, wrist, ankle pain (arthritic pain)

  • Headaches

  • Fibromyalgia 

  • Post-surgical pain 

  • Toothache/jaw pain

  • Pain associated with Multiple Sclerosis

  • Menstrual pain/cramping

  • Acute pain due to injury

  • Nerve pain

If you have pain that you've been struggling with, try acupuncture first, not as a last resort. It's incredibly helpful and my patients are often surprised at how much better they feel.

Georgios Vlahoylis
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