Acute Lower Back Pain

When introducing-Bethune Bethune Oriental Medical Centre’s Feature Therapeutic Treatment, one have to mention the pain control by acupuncture. Patients with pain account for the majority of the patients coming to the clinic for treatment. This article will discuss the very common type of acute low back pain and lumbar sprain.

Acute low back pain is one of the most common and frequently occurring cases with acute pain. It is mostly caused by dampness and cold, or by improper use of strength in the waist area or by sprain and contusion.   It often occurs with abrupt onset and severe pain. The patient often feels stiffness in the waist and hip areas, unable to stretch or turn from side to side, difficult in bending the waist and increasing pain in any movement. Recently, more patients came for treatment for acute low back pain. It is found that this is relevant to the abrupt daily temperature changes, increasing wind, sudden increase in outdoor activities and outdoor gardening work.

In some people’s minds, treatment through traditional Chinese medicine is often slow in taking effects. Actually this is not true! For the treatment of acute pain, the use of acupuncture often reaches immediate effects in releasing the pain..

Traditional Chinese Medicine normally differentiates the acute low back pain into two types based on the symptoms:

  1. low back pain caused by dampness and cold: the patient usually feels pain and numbness in the waist, difficult in movement and turning, unable to bend the waist. The pain may stretch to the hips or lower lumber area.
  2. Deterioration of waist muscles: the pain is usually caused by external injury, or recurrence of previous injuries due to fatigue. The usual symptoms include lower back pain, rigidness, fixed pain spot. The patient may have difficulty in bending or turning from side to side.

Western Medicine often uses anti-inflammatory drugs or muscle relaxation drugs in the treatment of acute low back pain.  It can reduce the acute pain. However, in the clinical practice we found that Western Medicine cannot alleviate some symptoms and sometimes is ineffective because that the acute low back pain varies from case to case in its causes.

The treatment by Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on differentiation of symptoms and causes of the disease. The principle of treatment of acute pain through Traditional Chinese Medicine is normally focused on reducing the pain, eliminating inflammation, smoothening the meridian channels, improving blood circulation and balancing the Yin and Yang. The specific methods include shallow puncture at local tenderness point in combination with manual massage, moxibustion, bleeding, ingestion or external application or Chinese medicine, injection at the acupuncture points and other traditional Chinese medicine therapies. Current electric stimulation is very effective in reducing pain and rigidness and elimination inflammation. It is also very important to encourage the patient to boost his/her confidence and cooperation by participating in rehabilitation exercise in the course of the treatment.

Judging from the clinical efficiency, patients with acute pain have to endure great pain before treatment. However, acupuncture has significant effect in the treatment. 1-3 times of acupuncture treatment can significantly improve the patients by reducing symptoms which increases patient’s confidence and encourages the patient to actively cooperate in the course of treatment.