“Back pain from the waist up?”
I have back pains from the waist up. Where would needles be used in such cases?
Female | 76 years old
Medications: pills for high blood pressure and cholesterol
Conditions: none
22 Answers
typically needles will be placed next to the spine and some distal points on the anles and hands.
Needles can be used either locally (on your back) if you can lay face time, or on your ankles , posterior knees and wrists. Depending on your practitioner, he/she choose face up or face down points. Usually with back pain it will most likely be face down and the needles will go into your back.
Most of the needles will be applied locally, but there are also auricular( ear) points are very effective, and distal command points used could be used, after the evaluation of the patient
Three problems with Cholesterol medicine,
1) Muscle pain,
2) Memory issues,
3) Heart attack.
If your back pain is from Statins (Cholesterol medicine), Acupuncture pain relief won't last. I suggest you ask your Dr. if you can stop the medicine for two weeks. In my experience, that is all it would take. If the pain is gone, that may well be the cause. If the pain remains, it may be muscular or organic and high-level Acupuncture can help with both. Needle placement for back pain can be anywhere on the body, it does NOT have to be on the back.
1) Muscle pain,
2) Memory issues,
3) Heart attack.
If your back pain is from Statins (Cholesterol medicine), Acupuncture pain relief won't last. I suggest you ask your Dr. if you can stop the medicine for two weeks. In my experience, that is all it would take. If the pain is gone, that may well be the cause. If the pain remains, it may be muscular or organic and high-level Acupuncture can help with both. Needle placement for back pain can be anywhere on the body, it does NOT have to be on the back.
It depends what type of pain you are in. You may be needles at the point of pain but likely you will be needles distally at points farther away from the pain like the arms and legs.
Typically close to the spine in the area of the pain.
yes. I encourage you to book a session with your practitioner of choice to get help with relief.
There are many different ways to treat a condition like this. It depends on what else is going on, the cause, and many other factors. I can think of at least 4 different protocols for the same condition you just described. You need to go to an acupuncturist. Also, sometimes we change the protocol. We might use one protocol in the acute phase then change the protocol once in chronic. Then may even change the treatment again once in the maintenance stage of the treatment. There is no one answer.
Typically, there are local points used for pain and distal points as well. Local points will be on your back, along the spine, or in areas that are tender or sore based on palpation. For back pain, there are empirical points located on the legs & ankles, even arms/hands! So those could also be incorporated into treatment.
This is a tricky question since the needles are used in different ways. To open blocks in your energy body, and depending on the location of the block the needles will go there. another way of treating is to put needles in the area where the pain is. I put needles also in areas that can help to strengthen the energy of the patient, not related to where the pain is.
It depends on the practitioner. As a follower of Dr. Richard Tan’s Balance Method, I tend not to put needles in the back; I will generally place needles in the elbows, knees, ankles, and wrists for back pain. I usually will do cupping initially, which I find very effective for back pain. At 75, generally a person will have more constitutional health issues, so you’d also want to strengthen the underlying imbalance based on TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) parameters.
Mr. Anthony James Lorenzo
Acupuncturist
I utilize a tradition of acupuncture where we treat pain far from where the pain is located. Most points I would use would be from elbows to fingers and knees to toes. But each practitioner's training can vary.
The back, to start with. Then the needles can be inserted in various locations based on your condition.
Some acupuncturists would needle along the spine and/or in the back muscles near the spine, Others would treat you face up, needling your lower legs and lower arms. That method is called distal acupuncture or the Balance method. You can ask them beforehand how they work.
Don't worry, the acupuncturist will check your condition, needles will be used usually wherever the pain is, mostly on back. There are many acupuncture points on back, the doctor will choose some points to insert needles.
It's very difficult to say where needles might be placed. I know this isn't what prospective patients like to hear. There are two main reasons why I can't answer this question:
1. I don't know why you're experiencing back pain. In any medical system, treatment hinges on a correct diagnosis. If an MD misses on the diagnosis and prescribes the wrong treatment (medication or surgery), the patient doesn't get better and sometimes they get worse. Chinese medicine is a complete system - meaning it has a coherent, internally consistent diagnostic method.
Without having a diagnosis, inside the Chinese medical model, I have no way of knowing what treatment is appropriate and therefore no way of specifying where needles might be placed.
2. Acupuncture is not a monolithic system. There isn't one and only one system of acupuncture that everyone practices. There is classical Chinese acupuncture, modern Chinese acupuncture, Taiwanese acupuncture, Japanese acupuncture, a couple different systems from Korea, at least 4 modern western approaches to placing needles, and probably another half-dozen that I'm either not remembering or not aware of. Bottom line: even if I specified a set of points that might possibly be useful to you, there's no guarantee that a licensed acupuncturist local to you will be using the same system of acupuncture in the same way that I do. They might choose to use an entirely different treatment approach, in which case you're going to be pretty confused.
Here's what I can tell you: pain is one of the main conditions for which there is abundant and excellent scientific evidence regarding acupuncture's effectiveness. It doesn't really matter where the needles are placed as long as your pain is either reduced or relieved. A good acupuncturist practicing any system should be able to accomplish that task.
1. I don't know why you're experiencing back pain. In any medical system, treatment hinges on a correct diagnosis. If an MD misses on the diagnosis and prescribes the wrong treatment (medication or surgery), the patient doesn't get better and sometimes they get worse. Chinese medicine is a complete system - meaning it has a coherent, internally consistent diagnostic method.
Without having a diagnosis, inside the Chinese medical model, I have no way of knowing what treatment is appropriate and therefore no way of specifying where needles might be placed.
2. Acupuncture is not a monolithic system. There isn't one and only one system of acupuncture that everyone practices. There is classical Chinese acupuncture, modern Chinese acupuncture, Taiwanese acupuncture, Japanese acupuncture, a couple different systems from Korea, at least 4 modern western approaches to placing needles, and probably another half-dozen that I'm either not remembering or not aware of. Bottom line: even if I specified a set of points that might possibly be useful to you, there's no guarantee that a licensed acupuncturist local to you will be using the same system of acupuncture in the same way that I do. They might choose to use an entirely different treatment approach, in which case you're going to be pretty confused.
Here's what I can tell you: pain is one of the main conditions for which there is abundant and excellent scientific evidence regarding acupuncture's effectiveness. It doesn't really matter where the needles are placed as long as your pain is either reduced or relieved. A good acupuncturist practicing any system should be able to accomplish that task.
Most needles would be in the hips and up the back
Hello there
The needles will most likely be placed on the back, abdomen, hands, and feet.
Thank you and have a great day!
The needles will most likely be placed on the back, abdomen, hands, and feet.
Thank you and have a great day!
I suggest you see a good acupuncture practitioner. He or she can relieve your waist pain by using acupuncture, massage, and herbs to relieve and fix your pain!
I'm afraid I can't answer that question. There are many causes of back pain and many ways to treat it. After they examine you, your acupuncturist will know where to put the needles. Some of the best points for low back pain are in the legs, so don't be surprised if they put needles places other than your back.
Lejla Fazlicic
Acupuncturist
Greetings
Happy New Year. Usually needles are applied locally. But your acupuncturist may use different protocol to treat that symptom. Therefore needle placement is choice of the acupuncturist.
All the best
Dr. Leyla
Happy New Year. Usually needles are applied locally. But your acupuncturist may use different protocol to treat that symptom. Therefore needle placement is choice of the acupuncturist.
All the best
Dr. Leyla
It depends on your whole health picture and the diagnosis from your acupuncturist. Many times needles are placed in the arms and legs, and depending on the underlying cause of your back pain, may also be placed in your back.
Rawls Whittlesey, L.Ac.
Rawls Whittlesey, L.Ac.
