Lower Back Pain & Sciatica


About Lower Back Pain:

Back/Lower back pain is one of ther most common medical conditions that many of us encounter at some point of our life. Sometimes the back pain is a warning sign that special care is needed to help prevent more serious problems, especially those who had chronic lower back pain or off and on for long time.

Causes:

TMany things can cause lower back injuries - muscle strain or spasm, sprains of ligaments (which attach bone to bone), joint problems or a "slipped disk, Pregnancy cause back pain. Overweight people are also more prone to back pain due to poorer posture and the extra strain that increased body weight places on discs and muscle. The most common cause is using your back muscles in activities you're not used to, such as lifting heavy furniture or doing yard work. Unexpected events such as taking a fall or a car accident can also cause low back pain. If back pain comes on suddenly, it's usually a sign of a muscle tear, sprained ligament, or disc problem.

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Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine Treatment for Lower Back Pain:

Acupuncture has been found to be clinically effective in reducing arthritic pain and improving mobility and circulation. Often, localized acupuncture therapy directly on the joint or tissue itself, with or without electrical stimulation or moxa (heat therapy with the herb mugwort) can be extremely helpful in managing arthritis. This obviously requires obtaining treatments from a licensed acupuncturist. Herbal therapy is useful in reducing inflammation, nourishing joints and soft tissues and improving one’s energy. It may also be a useful replacement for anti-inflammatory drugs that some people find upsetting to their stomach. Besides relieving arthritic symptoms, it is as important to nourish and prevent the onset of arthritis. There is good news for arthritis sufferer unable to access acupuncture treatments.

Tight, sore, and/or pinched nerve

The lower back pain is a kind of tightness, stiffness and soreness in early morning, and/or first moving after sitting for long time. This kind of lower back pain is usually tension related you may find the pain will be better after walking or stretching. Some patients may tell us they have a pinched nerve. Treating this problem using acupuncture combined with massage will be very quick and effective to relieve the pain. Treating stress and/or insomnia may also be applied to achieve long term effect.

Fatigue/Weakness

The lower back pain occurs or becomes worse in ther late afternoon, evening or when the body is tired, this lower back pain is often fatigue related. In this case, massage may work only several hours. To achieve long term effect, boosting energy treatment need to apply while treating the lower back pain. Boosting energy could be a long story, we usually spend longer time in consultation, because sleep, digestion, work load, pain itself etc. all related to fatigue (see fatigue for detailed info).

Pain Caused by injury

The lower back pain caused by injury could be relieved quickly by acupuncture in one or two treatment, but some fatal conditions must be made aware of, like blood in urine or difficulty to discharge urine. We may recommend you go to emergency first if we found the fatal sign in the consultation and examination. If the pain is severe and last for long time but no fatal signs are present, herbal soup will be prescribed while treating with acupuncture. Lower back pain caused by injury many years ago could also be cured.

Stiffness

The lower back pain is not serious but the patient have difficulty moving, this kind of pain may be caused by change in weather or sleeping in damp cold area. Usually it will take time to cure but in two or three treatments the patient will feel increase in mobility. In this case, acupuncture with TDP infrared light lamp will help, combined with herbal medicine will speed up the progress.

Pain associated with being over weight

The lower back pain in the over weight parson may happen frequently, our treatment plan is treating the pain first, then combined with weight loss treatment. At same time we recommend exercise in water to loose weight while avoiding weight load on lower back lumbers.

Weakness of lower back

The lower back pain is not serious, very often this kind of lower back pain is accompanied with fatigue, knee or heel pain. it is often chronic and may last for many years. To achieve long term effect, boosting energy treatment needs to be applied while treating the lower back pain. Boosting energy could be a long story, we usually spend longer time in consultation, because sleep, digestion, work load, pain itself etc. all related to fatigue ( see fatigue for detailed info).

Sciatica

Sciatica and Lower back pain share similar aetiology, pathology and treatment.