At some time in their lives, 80 out of every 100 people in Australia and New Zealand will be stricken with back pain, causing millions of dollars working days to be lost each year.
Back pain makes more people (including many Doctors) seek alternative treatment than any other ailment.
Most back pain has a simple physical cause such as inflamed or strained muscles, restricted joints, or pressure on nerves.
The pain is usually in the lower back but can be anywhere in the back and also cause nerve pain or numbness down the legs or arms.
Sudden (acute) back pain is usually associated with an injury or with a slipped disc, pulled muscle or torn ligament.
Functional and Chinese medicine have both proven effective in the treatment of back pain.
Acupuncture in particular very often provides rapid and long term relief, sometimes in conjunction with other therapies and advice.
As Functional and Chinese medicines’ are holistic the cause of the condition is addressed as well as the symptoms.
Since 1985, Darryl Ufton of the Gisborne Acupuncture clinic has successfully treated many hundreds of cases of back pain.
The Following study results indicate the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating back pain, conducted by a Chinese medical team in Tunisia, 1975 to 1977. Cases studied: 318 Results: Basic cure 78.3%; Marked improvement 16.7% some improvement 3.7%, Four cases showed no effect; of these two were caused by tumours and two were over 3 years duration.
Back to basics
Most people have experienced back pain of some kind or another during there lifetime. This is normally due to a strain or sprain from improper posture with lifting and bending or due to a congenital or hereditary causes or an accident of some nature. All of these can be very unpleasant.
Your back is basically a structure of muscle and bone referred to as spinal vertebrae. The muscles hold the bone in place. Without them your spinal vertebrae, in fact your entire skeleton would fall to the floor. Thus muscle tone and balance is very important in regard to the spine.
Acupuncture has proven very effective in the treatment of most back problems including, lumbago, sciatica, middle and upper back and neck problems, have all responded very well to acupuncture as have the more degenerative type of back problems.
Treatment is directed at the underlying cause of the problem as well as the symptoms and any pain. Because the underlying cause is looked at it has been found that often the problem that the patient has sort treatment for does not return for many years if at all.